Maizy lives in California, but is spending the summer in Last Chance Minnesota with her grandparents. She hasn't had much interaction with them because of tension between her mother and grandmother, but now her grandfather's health is failing and Maizy's mother has come to help run the family Chinese restaurant and care for her father. Maizy ends up being assigned to keep her grandfather company and they strike up a friendship. As Maizy's grandfather teaches her how to play poker, he also tells the story of his family's journey to American and their experiences as the only Chinese-Americans in Last Chance.
This book was a Newbery Honor and a National Book Award finalist this year. It is well written and gives an age appropriate look into the experience of a multigenerational Chinese American family. During the Covid-19 epidemic, there was a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment because some people blamed China for the epidemic. I think it likely that this book was written in response to that. I think is is a good response to that, but I didn't think it was a lot better written than a lot of other multicultural realistic fiction that I have read. Still, it was sweet and sincere. (2022, 288p.)
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