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jennicajackson's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
amandarawsonhill's review
5.0
This book is going places. Funny, heartfelt, great art, timely topic. Just wonderful.
jennybeastie's review
5.0
Love this -- love the bratty, funny younger brother, the tensions that Jingwen is navigating, the cake project, the graphic novel aspects, the learning english-martian analogy. Well done, super entertaining.
reading_meg's review
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
- I loved the way the story switched between prose and graphic novel!
- I loved how realistic the character’s emotions felt. The story moved from sad to happy to angry and back very convincingly.
- this sibling relationship felt so well done! The relationship between the MC and his mom was so complex as well.
- Watching Jingwen deal with everything through making cakes was such an effective way to show how hard it was for him to deal with moving/the language barrier and with his family.
- I loved how realistic the character’s emotions felt. The story moved from sad to happy to angry and back very convincingly.
- this sibling relationship felt so well done! The relationship between the MC and his mom was so complex as well.
- Watching Jingwen deal with everything through making cakes was such an effective way to show how hard it was for him to deal with moving/the language barrier and with his family.
okiecozyreader's review
4.0
Pie in the Sky reminds me of an updated Inside Out and Back Again story, the story of an immigrant moving to a new country and feeling alone. In this case Jingwen moves to Australia with his little brother Yanghao.
I love the use of a combination of graphic novel and text, which makes it even more accessible to students. Jingwen and his brother try to create so many pies/cakes to remember their father.
It is a book about lies, Le Petit Prince, sibling relationships as well as this adjustment to a new life without a parent in a new country.
I love the use of a combination of graphic novel and text, which makes it even more accessible to students. Jingwen and his brother try to create so many pies/cakes to remember their father.
It is a book about lies, Le Petit Prince, sibling relationships as well as this adjustment to a new life without a parent in a new country.
erin_winship's review
5.0
i had to read this book for class and i absolutely loved it. i connected with the main character, jingwen, a lot and i loved his arc of learning how to mourn for his father and surpass his guilt. the whole time, i wanted to give him a big hug because he was so anxious and down on himself. this book, when mainly about jingwen struggling in a new environment, it can really be a story about grief and mourning. this young boy lost his father, was moved to australia, where no one speaks his language, and his mother is putting great amounts of pressure on him. he thinks that the only way to be happy is to make the cakes he loved making with his dad, but he still feels empty. his feelings of being on a martian planet and being an alien to those around him is tragic and the truth for a lot of immigrant children. his feelings of being out of place are only pushed by the people around him and his school failing to support him. its a tragic truth for English Learner students that they are, most of the time, not given the proper amount of support in education, which causes them to lose motivation to learn, which happens to jingwen. i really liked this story and i loved jingwen and his brother yanghao.
michelleful's review
5.0
Middle-grade fiction with graphic novel-like sequences interposed in longer text. The whole thing was absurdly charming, especially the illustrations. Jingwen's struggle with immigrating from China to Australia, finding his voice in an alien country and language, and his complicated feelings about his father's death all felt very real. I cried reading this. T_T
chardeemacdennis's review against another edition
4.0
Don't read this book while hungry. It seems as though the stack of books I checked out to read over quarantine had a common theme: the main character loves to bake. This book did include one recipe at the back of the book, but I would have loved to have several of the Pie in the Sky recipes included. You better believe that the first recipe I looked up was triple cookie layer cake. YUM.
Now that I mentioned the delicious part of the book, the rest of the book is also excellent. Jingwen's family plans to move to Australia and open up a bakery called, Pie in the Sky. To Jingwen's dismay, his family still moves to Australia even after the death of his father. Jingwen feels like an alien in a country where he doesn't speak the language. He's held back a grade because his English is considered too poor for his correct grade. Jingwen isn't happy that both his mom and brother seem happy in Australia and that their English is steadily improving. When Jingwen's younger brother asks for cake for dinner one night, Jingwen relents and decides he'll make him cake. In fact, they'll make each of the cakes that should have been on the Pie in the Sky menu. Unbeknowst to Jingwen, baking cakes from Australian cookbooks will help him learn English. There is just one problem with this plan. Jingwen's mother works 3rd shift and has made the boys promise not to touch the oven when she's gone. Is this the type of lie that doesn't hurt someone? Or should Jingwen listen to her?
I really enjoyed this book. The story between brothers and how they can both learn something from each other, the story of feeling lost in another country, elements of fitting in at school, and baked goods. This book has it all.
Now that I mentioned the delicious part of the book, the rest of the book is also excellent. Jingwen's family plans to move to Australia and open up a bakery called, Pie in the Sky. To Jingwen's dismay, his family still moves to Australia even after the death of his father. Jingwen feels like an alien in a country where he doesn't speak the language. He's held back a grade because his English is considered too poor for his correct grade. Jingwen isn't happy that both his mom and brother seem happy in Australia and that their English is steadily improving. When Jingwen's younger brother asks for cake for dinner one night, Jingwen relents and decides he'll make him cake. In fact, they'll make each of the cakes that should have been on the Pie in the Sky menu. Unbeknowst to Jingwen, baking cakes from Australian cookbooks will help him learn English. There is just one problem with this plan. Jingwen's mother works 3rd shift and has made the boys promise not to touch the oven when she's gone. Is this the type of lie that doesn't hurt someone? Or should Jingwen listen to her?
I really enjoyed this book. The story between brothers and how they can both learn something from each other, the story of feeling lost in another country, elements of fitting in at school, and baked goods. This book has it all.