Yes we can

Inspirational books highlighted at Vallejo Library

When Kelly Yang immigrated to the United States from China with her family, she was just 6 years old. In elementary school, she helped work with her parents at a motel in Southern California and later went on to attend college at the age of 13, graduating from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School.

The now #`1 New York Times bestselling author, whose list of awards includes the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and NPR Best Book of the Year for her book “Front Desk,” will be appearing at the Vallejo John F. Kennedy Library on Saturday morning as part of the Solano County Library's “Book To Action” initiative.

“What inspired me to write the `Front Desk' series was that growing up we didn't have any books that were kind of similar. I didn't really see myself represented in books before,” said Yang.

The “Front Desk” series follows the life of a 10-yearold Chinese Immigrant who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms and take care of the facilities.

Although she was set to start a law career after graduating, Yang decided to follow a different path.

“I didn't really have the best experience in law school,” said Yang. “I didn't really want to be a lawyer afterward — I especially didn't want to go to corporate

law. I was always more of a creative person. I just thought the idea of working on contracts all day long for the rest of my life was unattractive.”

“It just wasn't for me,” Yang continued. “So I decided to take some time off. I said to the law firm that I was supposed to go work for, can I just take like a year off to see if I can teach. I really like kids, I really like writing, and I will see if I could do that instead. And that one year turned into 15 years of teaching, and from there, and that time, I wrote `Front Desk.'”

Several more books followed since the success of “Front Desk,” including “Yes We Will: Asian Americans Who Shaped This Country,” and Yang's first foray into Young Adult Romance, “Private Label” — due out soon.

Yang is looking forward to the event at the library in Vallejo and hopes that people of all ages will attend and interact at the discussion.

“I love doing Q&A with kids, I encourage them to ask any questions, about the whole writing process, what it's like to be an author, I want them to be able to see that it's a possibility for them and to be inspired to dream big.”

“When I was a kid, I often did not think of this as a possibility. Because I just didn't see people doing what I was doing—I really want to give kids that inspiration.”