Kite Flying [Paperback]

Grace Lin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 11, 2004 | Age Range: 3 - 7 years

The family from Dim Sum for Everyone! is back for a new outing– building and flying their own kite!

The wind is blowing. It is a good day for kites! The whole family makes a trip to the local craft store for paper, glue, and paint. Everyone has a job: Ma-Ma joins sticks together. Ba-Ba glues paper. Mei-Mei cuts whiskers while Jie-Jie paints a laughing mouth. Dragon eyes are added and then everyone attaches the final touch . . . a noisemaker! Now their dragon kite is ready to fly.

Kite Flying celebrates the Chinese tradition of kite making and kite flying and lovingly depicts a family bonded by this ancient and modern pleasure.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-The parents and three daughters who were introduced in Dim Sum for Everyone! (Knopf, 2001) return this time to shop for supplies and make a dragon kite, which they fly on a windy day. The brief sentence on every spread describes what each family member is doing: "Ba-Ba glues the paper." "Mei-Mei cuts whiskers." Young Mei-Mei's protruding tongue is evidence of her complete absorption in and enjoyment of her task. Patterns in the wallpaper and floor that form the background for the brilliantly colored, flat paintings of family members add visual interest. More patterns appear on Chinese-style jackets and slippers and on the bright-red dragon as well. Lin's signature swirls in the sky along with diagonals of kite string, grassy hill, and kite ribbons; and blowing hair, clothing, and leaves combine to suggest the ideal blustery day for this activity. Front endpapers contain supplies needed to build a kite while the back pages depict different kite creatures and the attributes they symbolize. An author's note offers a brief history of kite flying. Demi's Kites: Magic Wishes That Fly up to the Sky (Knopf, 2000) provides even more information about Chinese kites and their meanings.
Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Ages 5-8. A Chinese girl describes how the members of her family come together to make and fly a dragon kite. Even the girl's two younger sisters help: Mei Mei cuts the whiskers and Jie Jie paints a laughing mouth. The overall simplicity is effective and appealing, and the spare text is accentuated by bright gouache illustrations, in colorful shapes and painted fabric patterns that call up the same strong style Lin used in Dim Sum for Everyone! (2001). The close-up perspective will draw little ones right into the project; the finished dragon kite flies as if "talking to the wind. What do you think he's saying?" Two pages of endnotes provide historical and cultural context for this favorite pastime, and clever endpapers display craft supplies and kite shapes. Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 3 - 7 years
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dragonfly Books; Reprint edition (May 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553112546
• ISBN-13: 978-0553112542
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 0.1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Multicultural Stories > Asian & Asian American
  • #97 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Health > Personal Hygiene

More About the Author

Hello! Thanks so much for your interest in me and my books!

I grew up in Upstate NY with my parents and 2 sisters, whom are featured in many of my books, including "Dim Sum For Everyone!" and my novels, "The Year of the Dog" and "The Year of the Rat." My mother and I were the star characters in my first book, "The Ugly Vegetables"--I cut both my sisters out of that story! They were quite upset with me and made me promise never to cut them out again. And since then, I haven't...yet.

While many of my books highlight my family, not all of them do. My Newbery Honor-winning novel "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon," is an Asian inspired fantasy that some people call a Chinese 'Wizard of Oz,' and my early reader "Ling & Ting" is inspired by the old 'Flicka, Dicka & Ricka' books I read when I was young.

I hope you enjoy my books. Please visit my website: www.gracelin.com for more info about them (behind the scene stories and pictures) as well as other amusing anecdotes!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars High-flying fun September 12, 2002

By Michael J. Mazza HALL OF FAME

Format:Hardcover

In "Kite Flying," by Grace Lin, a family makes a dragon kite together and then takes it out for a flight. It's a simple story that effectively combines brightly colored illustrations with an easy-to-read text. Sample text: "It is a good day for kites." It's an enjoyable story that is also a positive portrayal of a family at work on a project together.

At the end of the book is a short supplemental article which describes the history of kite flying and discusses some Chinese traditions related to this activity. There is also an illustrated gallery of various animal kites: butterfly, crab, fish, etc.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, colorful, and like a kite.. surprising in direction December 17, 2002

By Larry Mark

Format:Hardcover

Grace Lin's pages are filled with spirograph-like swirls, bright patterns, bold colors, and even more colors. The inside cover is filled with drawings of the tools needed to make a kite (paper, scissors, paint, glue, etc), while the back inside cover is filled with the meanings attributed to the types of kites you fly (dragons for wisdom, dragonflies for Summer, butterflies for love, fish for abundance, taods for long life, etc). The whole family is involved in making the feng zheng kite, and then they ascend a hill to fly it with other families. She closes the book by asking the reader to imagine what people's kites are saying about their wishes and desires.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A story, a little history and a treat to the readers eyes! November 7, 2004

By KSL

Format:Paperback

I like that this book starts as soon as you open the book.. not 3 pages later! On the inside cover with items one might use to make a kite. The next page shows the narrator and her family at the store picking out these items on a beautiful windy day made for kite flying!

I like that Grace Lin uses the Chinese names for each of family members Baba- dad, Mei Mei - little sister, Jie-Jie older sister and everyone know who Ma-Ma is! Each page is a visual treat for the readers eyes.

Once the story ends, the book doesn't end there Grace tells the readers a brief history of kites and how the Chinese thought that kites could carry away their bad luck & talk to the spirits in the sky. Kites where also in the shapes that the person flying it wished to possess. The author shares that a dragon kite symbolizes power, widom and wealth. She also talks China's annual kite-flying day the double 9 festival and how kite flying spread through out the world. Turn the page, this book continues on showing the reader different types of kites in all sorta of animals and what they stand for!

I also love that when read the little blurp about the author she talks of flying kites with her family and that her favorite kite was a store bought kite called King Kong and how that one day while flying broke free and that Grace still wonders if it's still up there in the sky somewhere flying! I hope she's right!