Kaito's Cloth
Kindergarten-Grade 3—An enigmatic offering. The Lord of Flight, a sort-of hummingbird/human/insect hybrid, plays God when he blows the gift of flight into the wings of the dormant butterflies that line the walls of the mountain hall in which he lives. Kaito, a poppetlike child whose dearest wish is to see her own butterflies aloft again, carries them on the three-day journey up the Mountain of Dreams to see if the Lord of Flight will grant her desire. But when she reaches her destination, she finds that she is too late—her insects have died. The Lord of Flight comforts her by saying that, while even he cannot revive them, they have "danced upon the breath of heaven and have gladdened the hearts of all who saw them." He explains that though their wings are stilled when they die, "Flight is eternal." His words inspire Kaito and she crafts a gossamer kite that will continually provide her the gift of flight, even during winter. Chapman uses pens, pigment, and stamps to create illustrations with repeated elements and rendered in pleasing complementary shades of crimson, cerulean, and yellow. Featuring the foreshadowing of Kaito's own someday-death and her perilous perching on stalagmite-like crags, they are charming and disturbing at once. Combined with the heavily symbolic text, they make for a message that flies above the heads of its audience.—Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CTCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.