Great continuation of the series, this time set in Chinatown and incorporating the history and community of that place. It also tackles Lupe and Mom at the math competition while Mia attends a newspaper internship. I both love and hate that Mia encounters so much racist behavior and finds a way to empower herself and her community to rise above it -- I hate that she encounters it in the first place, and I love that she finds ways to succeed despite every challenge. New friends, new feelings, and a whole new story.

Advanced Readers' Copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

children's middlegrade audio (6hrs, 37min), #5 in series (best to read them all in order)
Mia, Lupe, and Mia's mom temporarily leave their home in Anaheim and head to San Francisco--Lupe for a math camp at Berkeley (while she recovers from the sour response received after revealing her crush on another girl in her class), Mia as the youngest student in a journalism camp at the SF Tribune, and Mrs. Tang with hopes of advancing her teaching career. Soon enough, Jason and Hank arrive to help the local (struggling) hotel owners in SF's Chinatown with a banquet in the absence of their usual cook, and Mia also makes the acquaintance of Emma, a girl whose parents work at the fortune cookie factory; musicians on strike; and others dealing with timely issues.

I forgot some events from book #4, but there's a nice recap at the start of this installment so it's all good. I **loved** learning about 1940s librarian Miss Breed's letters from the kids sent to the Japanese incarceration camps (more info here from the Miracosta Library) and appreciated also learning about the myriad injustices suffered by the enslaved Yahi man known as "Ishi" (1861-1916), and about Wong Chin Foo's Chinese-American newspaper established in the 1890s. I also appreciated reading about Mrs. Tang's insecurities about her accent--I was born in California and don't have an "Asian" accent, but I can totally empathize with her character about being forever self-conscious about something that may instantly signify "Other"-ness to strangers. ... This book, like Yang's previous writings, is absolutely filled with love and SO GOOD. ( )