The Dragon Kite

The Dragon Kite

Author: Nancy Luenn

Illustrator: Michael Hague

Genre: Fantasy

Major Awards: None

Grade Level: 3-6

Summary: In this book, there is a thief named Ishikawa, but he stole to help others, like Robin Hood. One day he decided he was going to steal the golden dolphins that were on the castle roof of the Shogun's son. He thought that a kite was the best method. Ishikawa went to Katsuta, an old kitemaker. Katsuta taught Ishikawa for four years how to be a master kitemaker. After all this time, the thief began to work on a large dragon kite. Ishikawa rode the kites to the top of the castle and returned with the tail and fins of one of the golden dolphins. He then cut the reins of the dragon kite to free it. The Shogun's son found out about this and was going to publicly execute Ishikawa, his family, and Katsuta in a pot of boiling oil. However, a dragon swept down and picked up the prisoners. He took them to safety because Ishikawa set the dragon kite free.

Evaluation: I don't think I would use/have this book in my classroom. It wasn't my favorite and it was very long. If I am going to teach younger grades, it would be too long to read aloud to them.

Because this book is long, the story is complex, and it incorporates some Chinese vocabulary, I think it would be best for older students who are on a high enough reading level to comprehend it as well as understand some of the complex ideas the story presents.

Like I said, I do not think I would use this in my class, but if one day I did have some sort of lesson on it, I would probably incorporate it into a week in which we go over different cultures. Even if the story is a bit complex, the illustrations show traditional Chinese dress, building structures, and even includes Chinese vocabulary that the children might enjoy learning.