Kelly Yang’s Top Story is a big-hearted Front Desk book for 11 year olds about Mia Tang getting her shot at a real newspaper.<\/p>\n
Mia has won a place at a winter journalism camp run by a famous paper in San Francisco. She’s staying in Chinatown with her mum and her best friend Lupe, in a little inn run by an elderly couple who are struggling to keep it going.<\/p>\n
She arrives buzzing with story ideas. Then she walks into the newsroom and finds out she’s the youngest camper there by miles.<\/p>\n
The others have laptops, briefcases and very famous relatives. One boy’s grandfather is a legendary writer, and he gets handed a story without even pitching one. Mia has a notebook, a pen in her bun and no laptop at all. And then she overhears an editor calling the scholarship kids “soft”.<\/p>\n
You’ll want to cheer her on SO much. Anyone who’s ever felt like the new kid who doesn’t quite belong will get it straight away.<\/p>\n
It’s not just about the newspaper, though. Lupe is heartbroken after telling a girl on her maths team that she likes her, and getting a really unkind answer back. It’s handled with lots of care. Mia is also keeping a crush very quiet (she’s absolutely NOT telling Lupe who it is).<\/p>\n
Chinatown itself is half the fun. A fortune-cookie factory where you can write your own fortunes, boba tea, lion dancing to look forward to. Mia meets a girl called Emma who works three jobs with her mum to save up for a better home. That makes Mia think hard about who actually gets time to relax.<\/p>\n
Lupe is thirteen, so crushes and first heartbreak are part of the story. It’s all very gentle.<\/p>\n
This one comes later in the series, and the earlier books really do build up to it. If your reader hasn’t met Mia before, start with Front Desk.<\/p>\n
For another young reporter who won’t give up, try Ajay and the Mumbai Sun. Ajay sells newspapers at a Mumbai railway station and dreams of being a journalist more than anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kelly Yang’s Top Story is a big-hearted Front Desk book for 11 year olds about Mia Tang getting her shot at a real newspaper. Mia has won a place at a winter journalism camp run by a famous paper in San Francisco. She’s staying in Chinatown with her mum and her best friend Lupe, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13315,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":6756,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Ajay and the Mumbai Sun","lr_seo_hook":"Mia Tang takes on a big-city newsroom and a crush she won't admit to."},"book_tag":[20],"age_group":[28],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[566],"class_list":["post-9596","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-real-life-books","age_group-books-for-11-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-kelly-yang"],"yoast_title":"Front Desk 5 – Top Story by Kelly Yang | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Mia Tang takes on a big-city newsroom and a crush she won't admit to. For ages 11+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n