The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Yee, Lisa. Maizy Chen’s Last Chance. Random House, 2022.

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance is a novel primarily set in modern day Last Chance, Minnesota. It is told in the first person from the perspective of Maizy, the protagonist. Most of the story is told in the present tense, but there is an embedded narrative that tells the story of Lucky Chen, an ancestor of Maizy who was an immigrant to America from China.

Maizy’s story starts as she and her mother arrive in Last Chance because Maizy’s grandfather, Opa, is ill and Maizy’s mother, Charlotte wants to take care of Opa and help her mother, referred to as Oma, with the Chen family restaurant, The Golden Palace. Maizy is not overly excited to be spending her summer in Last Chance, and she frequently thinks about what her best friend back home, Ginger, is doing. Maizy is not kind to a boy she meets named Logan, and multiple mean girls are cruel to Maizy by talking about her behind her back. Maizy realizes through the mean girls that she acted in a similar way to Logan. She tries to make amends with him, and the two become friends.

Maizy’s Opa gradually tells her stories about Lucky Chen. He originally worked in a dangerous job for the railroads when coming to America, but he was then able to get a good job with the Phillips family in their house. When the Phillips were away one day, another employee sets Lucky up to look like a thief, and Lucky must escape to avoid a lynching. He eventually makes it to Last Chance and takes a job at a restaurant. He works hard and eventually purchases the restaurant and with his wife, Lulu, renames it The Golden Palace. The Chen family helps Chinese immigrants called paper sons make their way in America by providing them with the necessities they need. Lulu ultimately dies when she is refused care at a hospital because she is Asian. By the end of Lucky’s life, he knows he was born in China, but he feels fully American. Maizy wants to learn more about the paper sons whose pictures are hung in the office of The Golden Palace, so she contacts a researcher and the two discover some of the descendents of the paper sons.

Opa’s health deteriorates throughout the novel as most of the relationships grow in strength. Oma and Charlotte’s relationship was once fraught with tension, but as they communicate honestly with each other, it grows. Opa had a previously severed relationship with his best friend of many years, Werner, but Maizy is able to help them revive their friendship. Maizy, herself, learns to stand up for herself both to bullies as well as to people who treat her and her family harshly.

The most overt conflict in the novel occurs as a bear statue is stolen from The Golden Palace. Maizy works hard to find the bear, and it is eventually discovered that the mayor played a part in its disappearance because he wanted to use this hate crime to help him reignite his career in journalism. Maizy shows at the end of the novel that she really can stand up for herself when she confronts the mayor. Opa dies, but before he does, he tells Maizy that it is her job to pass on the stories of their family.