mudder17 's review for:

Three Keys by Kelly Yang

5.0

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Kelly Yang does it again as Mia Tang works hard to navigate 6th grade where she struggles with a teacher who seems to dislike her as well as undocumented immigrants as well as girls who bully her and her friends and want them to "go back where they came from", even the ones who were born in the states. She also continues her shaky relationship with Jason as she learns to separate Jason from his parents, especially his father. If anything, I think this book was even stronger than the first and I was riveted as I followed the saga of Prop 187, which came out the year after I left California, and what it meant to people like her best friend Lupe. Once again, many of the supporting characters shine, including Hank (I love that man), her parents, Lupe, and even her teacher! If you haven't had the chance to read the two books in this series, I highly recommend that you start at the beginning! While I was not an immigrant, my parents were, and the racism that was shown by Mr. Chao and the ladies Mia's mom met at Macy's was not that uncommon among Asian immigrants. Even now, in 2020, I can see how many of the older generations in the Asian community were supportive of Trump and it makes me so upset that they don't see and understand how his policies have hurt people in their community, even if they themselves have not been hurt. The book was extremely well researched and experienced as each of the instances of racism were first hand accounts or experienced by the author herself. 5 stars.