Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Pie in the Sky
Remy Lai · 2020
88/100
👍 Worth It
Remy Lai does something rare here — she uses graphic novel panels and prose together not as gimmick but as a genuine emotional tool, letting readers feel Jingwen's interior world in ways words alone cannot reach. The immigration and grief story is drawn from her own experience and it shows: the specificity and warmth are real. Kirkus gave it a star, NPR and the New York Public Library named it a best book, and it earned the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor — this is the full package for middle-grade readers.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety90
substance88
craft92
originality88
accuracy88
hype85
age-fit90
human-eye90
Penny’s verdict88
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