Red Kite, Blue Kite
The author of the acclaimed memoir Red Scarf Girl (1997), based on her childhood survival of China’s Cultural Revolution, tells a moving picture-book story of a child in those same harsh times. Tai Shan loves flying kites with his widower father, and the spacious double-page spreads, with dark lines and warm shades of brown and red, show the bond between father and son. Then bad times come, and Baba is sent to a labor camp, while Tai Shan lives with Granny Wang in a nearby village. As secret signals to each other, the boy and his father fly their kites high in the sky. At first, they can meet on weekends, but then Baba is sent far away. True to the small boy’s viewpoint, the spare, poetic words capture the action as the kites “rise and dive, soaring and hanging together”; the emptiness of being apart; and the final, joyful reunion. Even young readers will see the kite flying as a metaphor for freedom. A great choice for classroom sharing and discussion. Grades 1-3. --Hazel Rochman