21 Feb / Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee [in Shelf Awareness]
*STARRED REVIEW
Lisa Yee, author of the charming and award-winning Millicent Min, Girl Genius trilogy, combines neglected U.S. history and multi-generational family legends with a thoroughly contemporary story to create the delightful and enlightening Maizy Chen’s Last Chance.
Three years have passed since 11-year-old Maizy saw her grandparents. Now she’s arrived in Last Chance, Minn., where Oma and Opa run the Golden Palace. Los Angeles is home, where Mom works as a food stylist; Last Chance is where the members of Mom’s family have been the only Asian Americans for generations. But Opa is sick and this could be Mom’s last opportunity to make things right with her parents. Maizy, meanwhile, has so many questions: Why does “Lady Macbeth” waste so much food? Is Mom falling for her old prom date? Who are all the people in the photos hanging on the restaurant wall? Maizy’s curiosity grows, but Opa’s answers aren’t initially forthcoming. While Maizy waits impatiently, she digs up worms, learns to play poker, chases a wooden bear, and writes plenty of fortunes, some of which come true.
Third-generation Chinese American Yee calls her 21st novel “a tribute to my grandparents and to all the other immigrants who made the journey to America.” In response to rising anti-Asian hate, Yee wondered, “What can I do?” Her answer: “Keep writing.” In claiming Maizy’s wholly American past, Yee also somberly underscores the racist targeting (such as racial slurs graffitied on the restaurant) that continues to taint her present. The additional pages of back matter – Yee’s family background interwoven with history, a Golden Palace recipe, extensive resources – affectingly underscore Yee’s intimate connections to her illuminating fiction.
Discover: Lisa Yee astutely combines neglected U.S. history, family legends, and the engaging adventures of 11-year-old Maizy Chen at her grandparents’ Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minn.
Review: “Children & Young Adult,” Shelf Awareness, February 15, 2022
Readers: Middle Grade
Published: 2022