Summary

In Chapter 1, Mia Tang’s parents told her that in America they could live in a house, have a dog, and eat hamburgers. She and her parents did eat a hamburger at the Houston Space Center when they visited to enjoy the free air-conditioning while they were living in their car. The hamburger was so expensive they could afford only one.

Mia and her family moved into a one-bedroom apartment when her parents were hired to work in a Chinese restaurant. The boss offered Mia a job as a waitress even though Mia was only nine. Both she and her mother, Ying, were fired when Mia dropped meals because she was unable to carry more than one dish at a time.

Mia thought of her cousins back home. Because families were only allowed to have one child in China, she and her cousins...