Maizy Chen's Last Chance

Maizy Chen's Last Chance
Lisa Yee
Random House, 2022
269 pages
Grades 3-6
Realistic (with a bit of Mystery & Historical Fiction)

Maizy and her single mother travel to Mom's hometown of Last Chance Minnesota for the summer. Opa is battling cancer and Oma is running the family's Chinese restaurant on her own. Mom and Oma have fallen out of relationship for a variety of reasons and they spend much of the summer reconnecting as they keep the Golden Palace afloat. Maizy spends time with her new friend Logan, trying to repair the relationship between Opa and his best friend, and learning how to play poker from her grandfather. She discovers a way to connect with and encourage people by writing fortunes and inserting them into cookies. A terrible racist incident shakes up both the folks at the Golden Palace and the community at large. Who is responsible? Maizy and Logan are on the case to find the culprit--which they do by book's end. Meanwhile, Opa spends time with Maizy, when he is well enough, sharing stories about his Grandfather, Lucky, who immigrated to the US amid racial prejudice and founded the Golden Palace, connecting Maizy to her heritage.

This is a great new book by accomplished middle-grade author, Yee, with a lot of layers. It is mostly a realistic fiction story of the importance of family, finding friends, and connecting with community. Interspersed within this is the back story of Opa's grandfather, Lucky, who's chapters are labeled differently with a slightly different font. And then--a mystery rears its ugly head as Maizy and her new friend search for the racist vandal. There is even a subplot involving Mom's potential romance with a high school flame that leads to a plot-twist. You would think that with all of this going on the story would be confusing. Quite the contrary. It is very readable, enjoyable, and would appeal to kids. Without getting preachy Yee educates readers about the prejudice facing Chinese Americans in the past (and present) and we learn about the Paper Sons. Back matter includes an author's note connecting the story to Yee's personal life and factual information from her research, a recipe from the Golden Palace, and resources to learn more. Maizy Chen's Last Chance is one of the best books I have read this year and I am sure to recommend it to readers.