Maizy Chen's Last Chance
Family Read 2023
The 2023 Family Read is National Book Award Finalist Maizy’s Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee. Below you’ll find fun activities, links, and writing prompts to help you think, talk, and learn about the book and author, at home or at school.
It’s twelve-year-old Maizy’s first visit to see her grandparents in Last Chance, Minnesota. They only plan on staying a short time until her grandfather recovers, but the visit grows longer than expected, allowing Maizy to learn more about her family history. Learning more prompts more questions, like who are the people in the photographs on the walls of her grandparents’ restaurant? And then someone steals a family treasure from outside the restaurant and leaves a racist note leading Maizy to hunt deeper for information.
Books help us see others’ perspectives and reflect on history, current events, and our own lives. We hope the resources we’ll be adding to this page will help you delve into some themes around this year’s Family Read and prompt you to learn about your own family!
When you read aloud as a family or share thoughts about what you’re reading, it opens up the opportunity for many conversations around themes in books. We hope you enjoy the book and accompanying events that kick off on March 11 and conclude with a virtual author visit on April 15, 3pm.
LEARN BEFORE YOU READ
Hear a read aloud from Lisa Yee to get you started!
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Use the Random House guide to talk at home or in the classroom about themes in book.
Look up the definitions of nationality, race, ethnicity, and culture. How do you identify in terms of each? How is each special to you?
BULLYING
Racist bullying and discrimination happen multiple times throughout the story, both in the past and in the present. When Maizy talks with Riley about Riley’s friends being mean to Maizy, she says, “Maybe you can tell them to stop.” Riley says, “You can ask them to stop, too.” Whose responsibility is it to stop bullying?
Think about times you’ve seen or experienced bullying. What did you do that worked? What do you wish you would have done differently? Click the button below to find videos from StopBullying.gov to give you tips for how to handle different situations with bullies.
IMPORTANT ELDERS
Maizy and her grandfather, or opa, develop a very close relationship. Who are some of the important elders in your life?
Go to storytime with your grandparents at Belleville Area District Library! Stories will focus on grandparents, but all are welcome.
Grandparents Storytime, Saturday, March 25, 11am, BADL
CHINATOWNS
There are many Chinatowns and Chinese communities in the United States and in countries all over the world. Where is the nearest Chinatown to Ypsi? Click the map to see where the nearest traditional Chinatown was and where the nearest revitalized Chinatowns are. Then read more about the history of Chinatowns and watch a short video Wayne State University video about former Detroit Chinatowns.
WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY’S STORY?
People have arrived in the United States over millennia for many different reasons. Some were voluntary migrants, some were kidnapped and brought here, and some came seeking opportunity. Ask a parent or grandparent about your family’s story. Do you know what countries, or cities, people in your family lived in before you were born? What about the Indigenous people who were there before them?
You’ll have multiple opportunities to use our supplies to tell your family story through art. Click the buttons below to learn more.
March 11, 2pm, YDL-Whittaker
March 27, 1pm, YDL-Whittaker
March 11, 2pm, Belleville (BADL)
April 1, 11am, YDL-Superior
March 11, 3pm, YDL-Michigan
LEARN MORE ABOUT CHINESE AMERICAN HISTORY
Paper Sons
Chinese American Museum
ACTIVITIES AT THE LIBRARY OR AT HOME
WEBQUEST
Click the image below to enlarge and find a pdf you can download. Can you answer all of the challenge questions by doing web searches?
Answer three in a row, then fill out the form below to be entered into a drawing to win 1 of 4 books. One winner chosen each week. Enter once and your entry will remain in the pool for each drawing. Winners must pick up their book at one of the four YDL locations.
RECYCLING
Daisy, who works at the Golden Palace, knows a lot about composting and recycling. “Plastic bags can take over 1,000 years to decompose.”
At the end of her shift, Daisy collects food scraps for her compost bin behind the restaurant. Recently, she talked Oma into recycling, explaining, “Ninety-four percent of the United States population has access to a recycling program. That puts Last Chance in the bottom six percent. But that doesn’t mean that the Golden Palace can’t recycle on our own.”
Learn more about waste reduction and recycling in Washtenaw County and make a compost bottle with the Washtenaw County Water Resource Commissioner’s Office at YDL-Whittaker, Friday, March 31, 1pm. Click the button below to learn more about how you can recycle.
Scrap Creative Reuse will lead workshops so you can make something new out of something old. Upcoming workshops include:
- Marble Maze Making at YDL-Michigan, Saturday, March 18, 3pm
- Parachute People at YDL-Whittaker, Thursday, March 30, 1pm
- Mythical Monster Boxes at YDL-Superior, Friday, March 31, 3pm
Get creative with items from the recycling bins at Belleville Area District Library, Wednesday, March 29, 2pm
Or make a compost bottle at home by following along with a video made by our UM Graham Scholars interns and learn more about composting.
FORTUNE COOKIES
When Opa gets a fortune in his cookie that says, “Today will soon be tomorrow,” Maizy realizes she can write better fortunes than the ones in the factory-made cookies! She uses her mom’s old typewriter to type custom messages for diners at the Golden Palace.
- Write fortunes and put them inside clay fortune cookies at the YDL-Whittaker kickoff event.
- Make origami fortune cookies at YDL-Michigan March 27, 2:30pm
- Find a typewriter in the YDL-Whittaker Youth Department where you can type positive messages to take and leave for others all month!
Or make paper fortune cookies at home. Watch the video below to see how!
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
Do you want to chat with others about what you read and be part of the group that helps lead the conversation with Lisa Yee at our virtual author visit? Sign up for a book club! Be sure to register before the date to get your copy of the book and be prepared for the conversation.
- BADL, Maizy Chen Book Club, Tuesday, April 4, 6:30pm
- YDL-Michigan, Tween Book Club, Thursday, April 6, 6:30pm
POKER
Opa teaches Maizy to play Five Card Draw. Maizy uses what she learns from the poker lessons to study people in Last Chance and learns more about human nature.
“Like life, a poker game never starts at the beginning.” It’s started before the player takes their seat at the table… Your opponents will give clues about their cards. It’s called a tell, because a subtle change in how they act can tell you what they’re thinking.”
Learn how to play card games and build your math skills at the library:
Or follow these rules to play at home with any standard deck of cards. If you don’t want to play poker, play any game as a family. You can check out games from our Library of Things or ask at the youth desk for games you can play at the library!
MAD Magazine
Maizy finds old copies of MAD Magazine in her mom’s childhood bedroom that she reads. Use your library card to read it on Hoopla.
FAMILY FOOD
Food plays a big part in the book! Maizy’s great-great grandparents started the restaurant the Golden Palace in Last Chance, Minnesota that her grandparents continue to run. Her mom is food stylist in Los Angeles. Opa’s friend owns a bratwurst shop where Maizy trades Chinese food for bratwurst for her grandfather. Maizy and Opa watch a food travel show every afternoon. Maizy has ice cream sundae’s at the soda fountain.
Find recipes below for some of the food Oma makes for the family. Try them at home! What are some of your favorite foods to eat? Do you have any family recipes that are special? Make a family recipe book!
A customer walks into the Golden Palace…
“Is this authentic Chinese?” The big man loosens his tie and deflates. My grandmother nods. “Absolutely! All our dishes are from ancient Chinese recipes.” “Good!” He shuts the menu. “Bring me chop suey and those cream cheese wontons. Chinese food has to be the real deal, or why even bother, right?”
Read on the Library of Congress website one story among many of the origins of chop suey. Is it an ancient Chinese recipe?
What about cream cheese wontons? Lisa Yee writes, “The origin of crab rangoon–fried wontons filled with cream cheese, crab, and spices–is unclear. Some say the dish made its first appearance at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Others claim it was created at Trader Vic’s restaurant in San Francisco in the 1950s. A cousin of crab rangoon, the Golden Palace’s version was straight-up cream cheese wontons–and many say it was invented in Minnesota!”
Make the recipe from the book:
Lisa Yee writes that there are over 25,000 Chinese restaurants across the United States. What Chinese restaurants and groceries are in our community? With two universities nearby and people from all over the world, we are lucky to have many places to shop for ingredients and taste food.
Can you find the history of your favorite places? Read a bit about Asia City restaurant and market here.
YPSIWRITES
Click the boxes for downloadable writing activities you can do at home or school from our YpsiWrites partners at 826michigan and EMU’s Office of Campus and Community Writing. Or stop by a YDL Youth Department for printed copies.