Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-li Jiang (review)

In this fictional story set during China's Cultural Revolution, narrator Tai Shan recalls a favorite boyhood activity—flying kites with his father from "the tippy-top of our triangle roof. We are above but under, neither here nor there. We were free, like the kites." When Tai Shan's father is arrested and sent to a nearby labor camp, father and son stay connected by flying kites, each flying his kite for the other to see. Tai Shan is consumed with worry when his father's kite fails to appear one day, but soon Father makes a hasty appearance, on the run from guards who find him and take him to another, more distant camp. Tai Shan keeps his kite and his hope aloft; when eventually his stubble-bearded, tired, and weakened father does return, the village celebrates by flying their own red and blue kites. A hazy backdrop of village and mountain scenery, awash in golds and earth tones, contrasts effectively with the sharp blue and red of the kites, and the body language of the boy and his father is as emotive as their sensitively captured facial expressions. Jiang supplies some historical context, though not as much as questioning kids might wish, within the narrative and in a closing note. For older listeners, this could be a useful vehicle for opening discussion on political oppression, and for younger children, simply a reassuring tale of a father-son bond strong enough to withstand a trying period of separation.