Maizy Chen's Last Chance

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance is a 2023 middle grade fiction book by Lisa Yee. The book won the Newbery Honor Award and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Youth Fiction. Lisa Yee is an author who writes children’s literature inspired by her experiences as a third-generation Chinese American woman. The novel follows Maizy Chen, a 12-year-old girl who visits her grandparents in Last Chance, Minnesota, because her grandfather is sick. Over the summer, Maizy learns about her Chinese ancestors and how they overcame prejudice and discrimination. Yee explores themes of racism, xenophobia, and the importance of family and community in the face of oppression.

This study guide refers to the 2023 Yearling print edition. Interspersed between the book’s numbered chapters are non-numbered, titled flashback chapters detailing Lucky Chen’s life. This guide refers to these sections as “interludes” for ease of reference.

Content Warning: This source material contains instances of racism, discrimination, and racist language, including the use of the c-word racial slur.

Plot Summary

Maizy Chen is a 12-year-old girl who travels from Los Angeles to Last Chance, Minnesota, with her mother, Charlotte. Maizy and her mother visit Maizy’s grandparents Oma and Opa because Opa is sick. Maizy spends time with her grandparents at the Chinese restaurant that they own called the Golden Palace. Outside of the Golden Palace stands a large wooden bear sculpture that everyone calls Bud the Bear.

Over the summer, Opa tells Maizy the story of his grandfather, Lucky Chen. Lucky immigrated to America in the 19th century to make money to send back to his impoverished family. Lucky became a cook at the Phillips Mansion in San Francisco, where he first arrived. Even though the Phillips were kind to Lucky, the butler, Jenkins, accused him of stealing, so Lucky ran away and took a train to Minnesota. Opa tells Maizy about “paper sons,” who were Chinese immigrants who claimed to be relatives of US citizens in order to enter the country after the Chinese immigration ban. Although Lucky was not a paper son, he offered paper sons a refuge at his new restaurant, the Golden Palace.

Maizy befriends a boy named Logan. One day, Bud the Bear disappears from the restaurant. No one knows who took Bud, and the Chens offer a reward for whoever finds him. Although Maizy cannot prove it, she thinks that a teenager named Erik, who made a racist comment at the Golden Palace, took Bud. Mayor Whitlock interviews Maizy for a newspaper article on Bud’s disappearance. After a few weeks, a boy discovers Bud in the woods, and the family takes him back to the restaurant. Maizy hears Erik talk about how he goes out drinking in the woods, so she follows him with a camera, hoping to get a picture of him near where they found Bud. Erik never goes to the location, so Maizy goes home. She hears shouting near her house and discovers that someone has painted a racial slur on Bud’s body. Mayor Whitlock’s article comes out in the newspaper, bringing awareness to the racism in Last Chance.

Opa tells Maizy that during World War II, the Chens faced discrimination. On Lucky’s 100th birthday, the then-mayor of Last Chance gave Lucky the key to the city. Lucky died two days later.

One day, Maizy discovers that because newspaper articles must be submitted two weeks in advance, the mayor either knew about the vandalism plan before it happened or painted the slur himself. Before Maizy can tell anyone, Opa’s illness worsens, and he is taken to the hospital. There, Opa tells Maizy that he wants her to tell their family story. Opa dies a few days later. At the funeral, a group of the paper sons’ descendants arrive to pay their respects. Mayor Whitlock asks to speak at the funeral, and Maizy tells him that he is not welcome there or at the Golden Palace. She tells him that she knows what he did, and he leaves without saying another word. After the funeral, Maizy shows the paper sons’ descendants photographs of their ancestors.

When she returns to Los Angeles, Maizy sets up the Last Chance Paper Sons Website, where people can connect and learn about their heritage. Logan calls Maizy and tells her that everyone in Last Chance now knows that Erik stole Bud and left the note. Logan says the Minnesota newspaper fired Mayor Whitlock after an anonymous note informed it of his unethical practices and that Whitlock has resigned from politics. Maizy misses Opa every day and promises herself that she will tell Lucky’s story. Maizy receives a postcard from Oma, who is vacationing in Hawaii. Oma tells Maizy that she wants to move in with them.