Skip to main content

ENCHANTED STORIES: Pie in the Sky


By Remy Lai
New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2019. Fiction.

All growing up, Jingwen has listened to his father talk about his dream to open his very own bakery called, Pie in the Sky. When his father unexpectedly passes away, Jingwen moves to a new country with his mom and brother. Jingwen struggles in school with both his education, and making new friends because he doesn't speak English. It doesn't make it any easier when he is put in charge of looking after his little brother, who seems to get into all sorts of trouble. To cope with his feelings of discouragement and sadness, he begins to bake cakes, the same cakes that his father was planning to include in the menu at his bakery.

This beautiful story includes many pages of illustrations which makes it a perfect choice for both those who love comics and those who love chapter books. Remy Lai writes about Jingwen's experience of moving to a different country in such a captivating and fun way. It opens your eyes to how difficult it is for immigrants trying to adjust to each new situation in a new country. Jingwens's love of baking is heartwarming, along with how he uses it to try and stay close to his father. Each time a new cake is introduced, your mouth will begin to water. A must-read for all. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The New Girl

The New Girl By Cassandra Calin New York: Graphix, 2024. Comic. 261 pages. 12-year-old Lia and her family have just moved from Romania to Montreal, and she's doing her best to keep up with the changes. But, she's homesick. She misses the rest of her family, her friends, and her favorite Romanian treats. She doesn't speak French and her English is shaky, which makes it hard to make friends, even in her international immersion class. And she's dealing with super painful menstrual cramps every month. But before long, Lia starts to hit her stride. She befriends the other bilingual girls in her class, she gets a spot as the artist for her school's magazine, and even has a new crush -- Julien. Though she may be the new girl, Lia is starting to fit in. This slice of life graphic novel is an adorable choice for middle grade readers and young teens. Lia is a likable protagonist and readers will have little difficulty relating to her adjustment to school. The text speaks to a...

Review: Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker

  Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker By Heidi Heilig New York: Greenwillow Books, 2025. Fiction. 291 pages. Thanks to Cincinnati Lee's no good, dirty rotten, artifact stealing great great great grandfather, Cincinnati's family is now cursed and Cincinnati feels like it's up to her to break the curse. Which involves trying to steal the artifacts back from museums that her grandfather robbed from graves and archeological sites around the world and return them to their countries of origin. But when Cincinnati's first artifact stealing mission goes awry, she decides it might be more effective to steal an all-powerful artifact herself that she can use to break the curse - The Spear of Destiny. Unfortunately her race for the spear will pit her against art smugglers and thieves intent on finding the ancient artifact themselves. If you are looking for an Indiana Jones read-alike, this is the perfect for you! Heavy on the adventure with similar levels of mysticism to those seen in th...

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...