A review by nicolemhewitt
Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai

5.0

Pie in the Sky is utterly heartwarming, but also humorous. The story follows Jingwen and his family as they immigrate to Australia. Jingwen feels like he's been transferred to another planet inhabited by aliens but soon starts to imagine that he might be the alien. Nothing in this new place is right, especially without his father, who died before they made the trip. The one solace that Jingwen finds is in baking his father's recipes. Jingwen's mother doesn't approve of him using the oven, so he and his little brother have to bake in secret. Soon, it becomes something of an obsession, a lifeline. Jingwen starts to believe that these recipes are the key to a successful life in this new world---like he needs to finish the recipes in order to fix the problems he's encountering. The story is heartbreaking in some parts, but the humor helps keep the book from feeling sad overall. The style is a seamless blend of chapter book and graphic novel, which is really fun to read. Sometimes the illustrations go along with the text, but at other times, the action takes place only in the art panels, like you would expect in a true graphic novel. The result makes for a unique read!