Pie in the Sky

Eleven-year-old Jingwen’s family is planning a move from China to Australia, where the parents will open a bakery. When his father is killed in a car accident they move without him and his mother works graveyard shifts at a bakery to support the family. While she is at work the two brothers secretly bake a variety of cakes – the very cakes his father had intended to feature at the new bakery – which helps Jingwen connect with his father and assuage the guilt he feels about his father’s death. This illustrated novel for grades 4-7 is suitable for independent reading, read-aloud, book clubs, and literature circles, and explores immigration, loss, grief, isolation, family relationships, and community.