Napa County Reads

After emigrating from China, ten-year-old Mia Tang’s parents take a job managing a rundown motel, despite the nasty owner, Mr. Yao, who exploits them. Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with fitting in at her school.

FRONT DESK is Kelly Yang’s award-winning middle grade debut novel about a 10 year old Chinese American immigrant girl who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms. FRONT DESK was awarded the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, is the 2019 Global Read Aloud, and has earned numerous other honors. 

Want to Read “Front Desk”?
“Front Desk” is available from local independent bookstore Napa Bookmine.  You can also access the book through the Napa County Library.

About Kelly Yang

Kelly immigrated to America when she was 6 years old and grew up in Southern California, where she and her parents worked in three different motels. She eventually left the motels and went to college at the age of 13 and law school at the age of 17. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in Political Science, and Harvard Law School. After law school, she gave up law to pursue her passion of writing and teaching children writing. She is the founder of The Kelly Yang Project (kellyyang.edu.hk), a leading writing and debating program for kids in Asia. As a writing teacher for 13 years, Kelly helped thousands of children find their voice and become better writers and more powerful speakers. Before turning to fiction, she was also a columnist for the South China Morning Post for many years. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has three children and lives in California. 

Front Desk Teacher Resources (external website, new window)

Napa County Reads, coordinated by the Napa County Office of Education, is a coalition of educators and community members dedicated to improving the reading experiences of students throughout Napa County with an emphasis on middle schools. Each year the Committee selects a book which is read in the fall, followed by special events that include a visit from the author. The community is invited to join students in reading the selected book and attending the author events.

Teachers – Do you want your class to participate? Contact Napa County Reads Coordinator.

Thanks to our Generous Napa County Reads Partners

10. Kick off your school year with a great book.
9. Assist students in getting excited about reading.
8. Tackle Common Core Standards.
7. Go wide with interdisciplinary activities and PBL.
6. Follow through on character education.
5. Create space for coachable/teachable moments.
4. Stretch out with technology and social media.
3. Engage your students in exciting community activities to celebrate each year’s selection (and meet the author!)
2. Your district has given you approval to go forward.
1. No Pressure!

“Jack and the Geniuses” by Bill Nye and Gregory Mone

• Jack and the Geniuses Teacher Resources (external website, new window)

“Refugee”, by Alan Gratz

• Teacher Tools for Refugee (external website, new window)
• Supplemental Media for Refugee (external website, new window)
• Virtual Reality Links for Refugee (external website, new window)
• Student Art Project Information PDF (new window)

2003: Francisco Jimenez, The Circuit

2004: Joyce Maynard, The Cloud Chamber

2005: Walter Dean Myers, Fallen Angels

2006: Francisco Jimenez, Breaking Through

2007: Gennifer Choldenko, Al Capone Does My Shirts

2008: Audrey Shafer, The Mailbox

2009: Francisco Jimenez, Reaching Out

2010: Lynn Hazen, Shifty

2011: Suzanne Morgan, Williams Bull Rider

2012: Andrea Montalbano, Breakaway

2013: Michael Pollan, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual

2014: N.H. Senzai, Shooting Kabul

2014: Peter Menzel/Faith D’Aluisio, Hungry Planet

2015: Francisco Jimenez, Selected Biographies

2016: S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

2017: Chris Grabenstein, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

2019: Alan Gratz, Refugee

2020: Jerry Craft, New Kid

2021: Bill Nye & Gregory Mone, Jack and the Geniuses