Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai
If cakes truly are magic, where did I go wrong?
 | Jingwen, his younger brother Yanghao, and mother venture into the unknown, immigrating to Australia, Mom works the night shift at a local bakery and Jingwen cares for his outgoing, impulsive younger sibling while she is away. It's hard. School is strange. He doesn’t understand what people are saying. Kids at school ignore him. It’s like moving to Mars. Relocation is exponentially difficult because his father is not with the family. Dad was killed in a car accident fourteen days before Jingwen’s birthday. This ten-year-old carries a heavy pocketful of resentment, guilt, and loneliness. |
Jingwen decides that he will make all the cakes on his father’s list of dream cakes. He hopes recreation of all his father's desserts will bring ease his pain and "make everything better." This task requires money, numerous trips to the grocery store, purchasing ingredients with labels he cannot read, late nights of secretly baking and then consuming all the cake. To make all these confections without his mother's knowledge means some serious subterfuge as well as outright lies.
Lai ingeniously blends text and images. Both are essential essential story elements. Panels capture heart-wrenching moments as well as comical scenes. Encountering an unfamiliar culture and foreign language is brilliantly illustrated. A boy stands alone while those around him talk in words that resemble bizarre symbols couched inside speech balloons. At times some characters’ faces transform into monsters, revealing interior panic and fear.
Anyone with a sibling will relate to episodes where the brothers fight, appeal to mom to take sides, are jealous of the other. Like most relationships, there are moments when the boys plot and plan together and even forgive. It's easy to relate to these boys.
There is a bonus: a recipe for Rainbow Cake can be found at the back of the book. This dessert is much more than a box cake mix. We're talking 14 eggs, separated and prepared individually before combining in a final step. It gave me added respect for Jingwen's ambitious plan to secretly create all the cakes. That's quite a feat.
And the cakes. O my, such cakes! Huge slices of almond chiffon cake with caramel sauce, chocolate raspberry torte, and pear tarte tatin with absolutely no tummy ache are the stuff dreams are made of. But it’s not all sweetness. Pie in the Sky tackles difficult subjects: immigration, grief, sibling rivalry, and language barriers as seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old. While pastry creation and relocating to Australia may be unfamiliar to readers, the emotions are universal. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll definitely want a slice of cake.
Strange Territory
More books where images forming an integral part of the stories of kids coping with strange new environments
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Uncorrected copy provided by publisher.
Pub date: May 14, 2019 Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) ISBN: 978-1250314093
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