Mia, a young Chinese immigrant, ran the front desk of the hotel her parents managed. Having immigrated from China, Mia's family was having a hard time adjusting to life in America. They were struggling to survive and were easy prey for those who would take advantage of the desperation of the immigrants who came to America with little money or knowledge of how to avoid such predators.

I learned a lot from this book about how the Chinese immigrants of the 1980's and 1990's struggled and were coerced into jobs for insanely low amounts of money, having their passports and I.D.'s taken from them and held hostage to their employers. Many times they were just indentured servants destined to fill their lives with horrific hours, working conditions and loss of freedom. Mia was determined to get her family and those she loved off that path.

I loved Mia's grit and determination. She was wildly knowledgeable for a 10 year old but I guess she had to be. I did think the story got derailed a little with some scenarios that were completely pie in the sky and unbelievable but that could that I am an adult reading a middle grade book. There are lots of lessons to be learned in this book. Lessons about the life of immigrants, how they are taken advantage of, about discrimination of all kinds and about perseverance. For these lessons alone, this book is worth the read.