What the Kite Saw

In this memorable story, a young boy finds solace flying his kite from the rooftop after soldiers take his father and brother away.

Without his father and brother, the young boy's life is turned upside down. He and his family have to stay inside, along with everyone else in town. At suppertime, he can't stop looking at the two empty places at the table and his sister can't stop crying. The boy looks out the window and is chilled to see a tank's spotlight searching the park where he plays with his friends. He hears shouts and gunshots and catches sight of someone running in the street -- if only they could fly away, he thinks.

Each day the curfew is lifted briefly, and the boy goes to the park to see his friends. One day, inspired by the wind in the trees, he has an idea. Back at home he makes a kite, and that night he flies it from his rooftop, imagining what it can see.

In this moving story from Anne Laurel Carter, with haunting illustrations by Akin Duzakin, a young boy finds strength through his creativity and imagination.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Anne Laurel Carter has a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has published over twenty books, including The Shepherd's Granddaughter, winner of the CLA Book of the Year for Children Award and the Society of School Librarians International Best Book Award. It was also named a Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor Book and a USBBY Outstanding International Book. Anne's picture books include Rocky Waters, illustrated by Marianne Dumas, and Under A Prairie Sky, illustrated by Alan and Lea Daniel, winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award.

Akin Duzakin is an illustrator and author who studied industrial design in Turkey before moving to Norway where he majored in visual communication at Oslo's National Academy of Craft and Art Industry. Since then Duzakin has illustrated fifty children's books. He is passionately interested in the picture-book genre and its ability to engage the whole family. He has received a number of awards for his work, including a Special Mention for the BolognaRagazzi Award for the original Norwegian edition of Why Am I Here? by Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen. He has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.