The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Compestine, Ying Chang

The Story of Kites

32 pp. | Holiday | April, 2003 | Trade ISBN 0-8234-1715-8 $$16.95

(3) K-3 Illustrated by YongSheng Xuan. Tired of banging pots to scare scavenging birds from their rice fields, the three Kang brothers try fashioning their own wings to chase them away. Following failed attempts using paper, chopsticks, and feathers, the boys create fengzheng--wind kites--and their family opens the first kite factory in China. This original folktale's cut-paper art in traditional Chinese style is as energetic and appealing as the Kang siblings.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute