Kite [Hardcover]

Melvin Burgess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2000 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Taylor loves birds and collects eggs. He has the rare opportunity to enhance his collection when a pair of red kites nest nearby. The only problem is, the red kites are extremely rare - only twenty-five are left in the country. Taylor's father, a gamekeeper, is under orders from his boss, the landowner Reg Harris, to kill the kites, who are birds of prey and will go after Harris's grouse population. For Taylor, the temptation also to take the eggs from the kites' nest becomes insurmountable when Harris actually asks him to do the job, even though it is illegal. Pangs of terrible guilt follow, and although Taylor tells Harris he's gotten rid of the incriminating evidence, he secretly salvages and hatches one egg. But as soon as the bird is born, elaborate plans must be made to keep its existence a secret in order to save it from being shot during the approaching hunting season.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Imagine being a boy who collects birds' eggs, and discovering that an extremely rare and endangered red kite is nesting in the woods by your own house! This is just the beginning of Taylor's story. The kite is "vermin," as far as malevolent landowner Mr. Harris is concerned, and he wants Taylor to destroy its eggs. The plot thickens, as Taylor battles his warring feelings of loyalty to his father, who must do his job to protect Mr. Harris's pheasants; respect for the beautiful bird; and desire to own the precious egg. When, through a tragedy of errors, a kite chick hatches, Taylor's feelings become even more confused.

This gripping tale is not for the faint of heart. As an environmental message, it is graphically convincing. Baby crows are dropped from the top of a tree and squashed into a pulp, lumpy kite embryos are killed and blown through pinholes in eggs, and a living adult kite is virtually crucified with a nail through her foot. Melvin Burgess's story is compelling, but his writing is surprisingly disappointing. Awkward at times with some pretty unconvincing dialogue, it's hard to imagine how Burgess slipped, especially when Kite is compared to his Carnegie Medal-winning Smack. Still, if one can get beyond the occasional clumsiness in style, it's a fascinating depiction of the British tradition of game keeping for organized "hunts," which more closely resemble slaughter. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

In a dramatic departure from his compelling Smack, Burgess here takes on environmental issues, with mixed results. Somewhat arbitrarily set in 1964, the author's tale of a predatory and endangered species unfolds primarily through the perspective of Taylor Mase, the son of a gamekeeper. The first obstacle to readers may be the organizing principle of the novel: the British practice of raising pheasants on private land, specifically for an annual hunt (even though a brief foreword explains the vocation of gamekeeping). As the novel opens, Taylor is stealing crow eggs out of a treetop nest--against the preacher's wishes--at the urging of Reg Harris, his father's boss and the owner and breeder of pheasants for such a hunt. Mr. Harris is quickly painted as a villain, and the conflict becomes clear to readers just as swiftly. When Harris's uncle Teddy appears on the scene like wildlife's guardian angel, he informs Taylor of a rare red kite on the property, one of only 24 left in the world. The novel's greatest strength is Burgess's ability to depict the kite as a threat to the pheasants, the kite's predators and its surroundings in a realistic, unanthropomorphized way. Readers will likely feel as protective of the creature as Teddy does, but the cardboard treatments of Reg and Teddy Harris, coupled with the ambiguity of Taylor's father's perspective, make this a bumpy ride. Toward the end, the viewpoints begin to shift so often and abruptly among the characters that readers may be too lost in the trail of what motivates them to fully appreciate the upbeat conclusion. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (April 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374342288
• ISBN-13: 978-0374342289
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,791,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kite - the condor's cousin, August 22, 2000

By 

Nona Mikkelsen (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kite (Hardcover)

In "Kite", English author Melvin Burgess strikes a refreshing chord for readers seeking authenticity in animal novels for young adults. The softened world of sentimental animals boosk for children is challenged in this realistic novel about an endangered bird, a red kite. The book was written in collaboration with a wildlife biologist and details are wonderfully vivid and realistic.

Burgess does not tread beyond the bounds of decorum for children 9 and older; rather "Kite" is quick-paced, amusing, and heart-warming.. The main characters opt at the end of the novel to care for a wild animal who will never be returned to the wild - a major committment, as any animal owner recognizes. And although there is violence to animals, it is committed by the villain, who represents old beliefs which only the misguided could adhere to given the peril to wildlife in the present day.

The main character is sensitive, caring, and conflicted. The book will appeal most to children whose parents have dealt with harsh realities, such a killing animals for food or livelihood yet loved animals at the same time, and had to explain their values to their children. Major conflict in the novel occurs between the son and father, gamekeeper for the landowner, who runs the hunt. To disagree, the father must condone his employer's actions or lose his position, and his home.

The paradox of killing animals for food is set baldly against the killing of animals for sport or money. Set in England, the book's endangered animal is a red kite. Killing kites has recently been made illegal, but some locals still view kites as "vermin." The landowner Harris prizes his game birds, the pheasants, because he makes his living from hunters' fees for killing them. But Harris' cruel actions alienate even the hunters and eventually provokes the young boy's father to side with his son in the fight for the kite's life.

The books is not bleak, despite the seriousness of its message. Descriptions of the kite's awkward growing stages are humorous and memorable. Close attention to detail of bird behavior shows throughout. And finally, we learn the red kite populations burgeoned in the years of violence in England. Pecking the bodies of the dead was among the actions that gave this bird an odious reputation, much like the US condor or buzzard - a carrion animal. And yet, Burgess chose the kite to deliver his message.

Burgess' book distills some of the ecological/environmental issues that face English, Americans, and people of all countries - whether to adhere to the old ways (which were necessary then but are no longer, and are in fact detrimental) or to view with clear eyes the need to preserve all individuals in the biosphere for the parts they play in keeping the whole healthy.

3.0 out of 5 stars A tough book for American readers, June 24, 2000

By 

Maya Spector - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kite (Hardcover)

Taylor's father is the gamekeeper on an estate that raises pheasants for sport hunting. The boss, landowner Reg Harris, is a blustering, greedy man who cares only for his own financial success. When several endangered red kites are spotted in the woods on the property, Harris demands that Taylor's father kill them, even though this is illegal. Taylor saves one of the kites' eggs and raises the young bird in secret. This is a very British book. American readers are unlikely to relate to either the setting or the lifestyle. That in itself isn't an insurmountable problem, but there are other difficulties that will limit this book's appeal to young American readers. Although the ecological message is worthy, the tender-hearted will find certain gruesome scenes hard to stomach. The mood is unrelentingly dark, and the characters are pretty one-dimensional. The tone of the book and its theme brings Wringer to mind - not an easy book to handle, either, but one tailored for an American audience.