Remy Lai

Remy writes this about an episode of family quarantine due to chickenpox from eldest sister Abby's POV. Twelve-year-old Abby thinks of her four younger siblings as zoo animals, and longs for the kind of peace and quiet her friends Julia and Monica get at their homes (one is an only child and the other has an older sister). But when all the Lai kids get chickenpox, they're stuck home from school all together. Dad is on a work trip, so Mom manages around the house. Abby vacillates between show more wanting to be helpful and scrapping with her siblings, but during the time at home, she remembers that they are distinct people - and that all of them, except the youngest, is relied on to be the older sibling sometimes. Abby also deals with communication problems with Julia and Monica, but they iron it out on a three-way phone call. Set in Indonesia in 1994.

See also: Squished

Quotes

I have all of the responsibility, but none of the power. (78)

My family only sees me as the big sister. Nothing else....Each [nesting] doll represents a different me. But the biggest, Big Sister Abby, swallows up all the other Abbys. (90-91)

I've been feeling conflicted and acting conflicted a lot throughout this past year. (154)

"You'll appreciate your little siblings more when you're older."
"That's what adults say about EVERYTHING that kids don't like." (Aunt Selene and Abby, 233) show less

Pawcasso tells the story of a young girl, Jo, who happens upon an off-leash dog shopping with a basket without its owner. She follows the dog on its travels which lead to a children's art class in a bookstore called Dog Ears. When everyone mistakes Jo as the owner, she is unable and doesn't correct them. When they invite her back the next week, she sees an opportunity to make friends. As Jo later states, she “made a Chihuahua-sized lie, but it’s snowballed into a great Dane-sized lie.”
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Remy Lai creates a sweet story that readers of Raina Telegemeier will love. They’ll connect with the main character who has a big heart, but struggles with life’s complexities. Early on in the book, the owner of Dog Ears leads a book club and wonders, “If love comes from the heart, does hate come from the brain?” Jo is able to answer that question by the end of the book and help rival townspeople come together.

The artwork is bright and expressive. Remy Lai Is especially adept at drawing Pawcasso’s movements and perspectives, including the satisfied look on the dog’s face after it has rolled in poop.

A first choice pick for any elementary school library’s graphic novel section. show less

"Two brothers navigate a new country, a new language, and grief through cake.

In this graphic/prose hybrid novel, 12-year-old Jingwen, his little brother, Yanghao, and their mother immigrate to Australia. The family is Chinese, though their home country is never specified. The boys start at the Northbridge Primary School not knowing any English, which has Jingwen feeling they have just arrived on Mars. Quickly he realizes it is he and Yanghao who must appear to be the Martians to everyone show more else, comically literalized with pictures of a four-eyed, antennae’d Jingwen. While Yanghao quickly picks up English, Jingwen resists, struggling in lessons and to make friends. Piece by piece readers learn it was Jingwen’s father’s dream to open a cake shop called Pie in the Sky in Australia before he suddenly passed away. After finding the family’s cookbook, the boys decide to secretly bake all the Pie in the Sky cakes. Jingwen especially takes it to heart, pouring his grief and frustrations into every frosted layer, believing that it “will fix everything.” Herself an immigrant to Australia from Singapore, Lai unfolds the story like a memory, giving brief flashbacks interspersed throughout the daily musings and nuanced relationships among family members. Jingwen’s emotional journey is grounded in honest reality; it ebbs and flows naturally with strategic spots of humor to lighten the overall tone.

Like salted caramel, a perfect balance of flavors, this deftly drawn story is a heartfelt treat. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 10-13)" A Kirkus Starred Review, www.kirkusreviews.com show less

When Jinwen moves with his mother and brother to Australia, he just cannot fit into this new place. It doesn’t feel like another country -- it feels like another planet. He doesn’t understand English well enough to get on, and it feels like everyone around him is a Martian. The one thing that makes him feel better is baking cakes with his little brother Yanghao. Problem is, their Mama has forbidden them to bake cakes on their own. But how else will Jinwen ever feel okay again?

This story show more is the perfect blend of sweet and salty, as Jinwen eventually realizes is the recipe for a delicious cake. Jinwen is dealing with guilt and grief over his father’s death, yet the book does not feel dark or heavy. His struggles to make friends at school will surely be relatable to many a young reader, even if the specifics of his situation are a little bit different. Yanghao is a constant source of comic relief, and the descriptions of the cakes will leave your mouth watering for a sweet treat. In general, you will become attached to those two characters (and the side characters as well) and be loath to leave them when the book ends.

I thought it was a very important message, told early on, that learning a new language is difficult and can make others seem unapproachable. Furthermore, as Jinwen points out, the shoe can easily be on the other foot -- he feels like the English-speaking Australians are speaking Martian, but he realizes that he and his brother speaking their native language probably sounds like Martian to the English speakers.

Listening to the audiobook, I was wondering how the weird whirls and clicks to indicate the English words Jinwen doesn't understand would be presented in the print book. I ended up consulting a print version of the book and discovered that it is full of pictures! Some of these are in an almost comic book style and definitely add to the story. (For the record, the dialogue from these panels is read aloud in the audiobook, but the imagery really helps sell the story, showing more of Jinwen's emotional states.) For some reason, the audiobook narrator uses an Australian accent even though Jinwen and his family are not Australian*; an odd choice but otherwise he did a really good job of bringing the story alive, with emotion, different voices, etc.

Another thing I liked about the print book was that the words Jinwen and others do use in English are the words that are italicized, a bit of a twist from when words in a non-English are italicized in the text. My one complaint with the language is that it does use some mild oaths like "crap" and "fudge," It's not a huge deal and some caregivers/parents might not mind at all, but I'm not a huge fan of that being in a book for kids. It's about the only reason I dinged the book half a star.

The story itself will appeal to fans of Wonder and the mixed textual prose-comic illustrations style will appeal to fans of Invisible Emmie and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

*Jinwen and his family's home country is never explicitly stated. I've seen at least one review say China, but I'm not 100% sure of that. At one point, Yanghao responds to no language spoken to him, including Mandarin or Cantonese. Also, the author's blurb biography says she was born in Indonesia and grew up in Singapore, so it seems one of those countries might be more likely. show less