Remy Lai’s novel — Pie In The Sky — is a mishmash of book styles that works nicely together, as the prose mixes with comic panels for a hybrid story, weaving together a complex narrative of the young protagonist — Jingwen — a young immigrant to Australia who is struggling with school, loss and learning a new language.
The making of cake and pie is a key plot component, as Jingwen and his little brother sneak time when their single mom is at work to make cakes that their father, now passed away in a terrible car accident, used to make with Jingwen as he dreamed of a shop they would open when they moved to Australia. Back home, his grandparents still run a cake shop. Baking is in the family blood.
It’s the tragic loss of the father that is at the emotional heart of this book, as we slowly learn how Jingwen blames himself for what happened (his father was getting a special birthday cake for Jingwen when he was killed) and it’s clear that his mother is not grappling well with the loss of her husband and the move they’ve made to Australia. She’s working long hours, leaving the young boys alone for long stretches of time, when they sneak without permission to make cakes.
Meanwhile, Jingwen’s younger brother — Yanghao — is a live-wire character, full of energy and curiosity. He’s certainly a handful, and the relationship between the two brothers is another key component here.
There are plenty of moments of fun and pitfalls in Pie In The Sky and Lai has a nice touch with her comics and a tenderness with her characters that move the story along on lines of being a new immigrant in a place where you don’t know the language. Lai develops her characters, too, so that by the end, when the plot pieces fit together, it all makes sense for the characters.
This book is appropriate for upper elementary and middle school readers.
Peace (and pie),
Kevin