Kelly Yang Books In Order

Publication Order of Finally Seen Books

Publication Order of Front Desk Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Children's Books

Kelly Yang
Kelly Yang was born in China and grew up in Los Angeles, after immigrating to America at the age of six. When she came to America, she didn’t know a single word of English. She and her parents worked in a total of three motels before the age of thirteen.

Ever since she was a little girl, she has loved telling stories. She likes telling stories of all kinds. Stories about bold boys and gutsy girls, about loan sharks, motels, poverty, immigration, and race. One thing that they all have in common is that they are all accessible, important, and filled diverse characters.

She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of California, Berkeley. Kelly started attending college when she was only thirteen years old and at seventeen, started Harvard Law School. When she was only twenty she became one of the very youngest graduates of Harvard Law School in the year 2005.

After finishing law school, she gave up on law in order to pursue teaching kids writing and her passion for writing.

After college, Kelly found the Kelly Yang Project, a debating and writing program for kids in Asia. This was designed to instill a passion for writing in kids from a very young age. Kelly teaches Global Thinking, Critical Reasoning, and Model United Nations. She loves motivating her students and teaching them. Kelly’s students, under her guidance have gained admission to places like Stanford, Harvard, UChicago, Yale, UPenn, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, as well as other top schools.

Besides teaching, she also oversees the curriculum development and teacher training. She is very hands-on with each and every aspect of the KYP program. From student satisfaction, lesson planning, and classroom dynamics.

Before becoming a novelist, she wrote for several years for publications like The New York Times, the Atlantic, the South China Morning Post, and the Washington Post.

“Front Desk” won the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature, and was the 2019 Global Read Aloud.

For her efforts in education, she has won USA Today All-USA College Academic 1st Place Team, and the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in 2000. In the year 2010, The Kelly Yang Project was named the ‘Second Best Small Education Company in the World’ by the Education Project Global Summit in Bahrain.

Kelly’s debut novel, called “Front Desk”, was released in the year 2018. Her work is from the young adult fiction and children’s genres.

“Front Desk” is the first novel in the “Front Desk” series and was released in the year 2018. Mia Tang has got a lot of secrets.

The first is that her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, learns they have been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs are going to be doomed.

The second is that she lives in a motel, not some big house. Each day, as her immigrant parents clean the rooms, Mia (ten years old) manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends its guests.

The third is that she would like to become a writer. How can she when her mother believes she should just stick to math since English isn’t her first language?

It is going to take every bit of Mia’s kindness, hard work, and courage to get through this year. Is she going to be able to hang on to her job, help the guests and the immigrants, escape from Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?

“Three Keys” is the second novel in the “Front Desk” series and was released in the year 2020. Mia Tang believes that she is going to have the very best year ever.

Mia and her parents are now the proud owners of the Calivista Motel. Mia is able to run the front desk with Lupe, her best friend, and she finally has been getting somewhere with her writing. As it turns out, the sixth grade is no picnic.

First is that the motel is struggling, and Mia must answer to the Calivista’s several worried investors. Second of all Mia’s new teacher does not believe that her writing is all that great.

Lastly, there is a new immigration law looming and should it pass, it is going to threaten everything, as well as everybody, in Mia’s life.

It is quite the roller coaster of challenges, and Mia needs every bit of her determination to hold on tight. If anybody could find the key to getting through any and all turbulent times, it is Mia Tang.

“Parachutes” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2020. They are called parachutes: teens dropped off to live in private homes and study in America while their wealthy parents stay back in Asia. Claire Wang never believed she would be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and get her enrolled in a California high school.

All of a sudden she discovers herself living in some stranger’s house, without anybody to tell her what to do for the first time. She quickly embraces this newfound freedom, particularly when the hottest and most eligible of the parachutes, named Jay, asks her out.

Claire’s new host sister, named Dani De La Cruz, could not be less thrilled that her mother rented Claire a room. A debate-team star and an academic, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale. Even if this means competing with other privileged kids that are buying their way to the top. When her debate coach begins working with her privately, her game plan veers way off course unexpectedly.

Dani and Claire, who try desperately to avoid one another under the same roof, find they are on a collision course, intertwining in more complex and deeper ways while grappling with some life changing experiences.

Dani and Claire are equally important to this story, and have their tale to tell. Kelly weaves together an unforgettable modern immigrant tale about trauma, love, corruption, family, and the power that comes with speaking out.

One Response to “Kelly Yang”

1. mathew: 2 years ago

   realy love your books there awesome

   Reply