A review by erin_winship
Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai

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.