cover image The Story of Kites

The Story of Kites

Ying Chang Compestine. Holiday House, $16.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-8234-1715-5

Fresh from creating noodles and chopsticks (The Story of Noodles; The Story of Chopsticks), the inventive Kang brothers take to the air in The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine, illus. by YongSheng Xuan. The three boys, weary of chasing birds away from their family's rice fields, experiment with ways to fly and instead come up with one of the most popular inventions of ancient China. Traditional cut-paper art puts the wind in the sails of this charming story, appended with kite-making instructions. .