MOONLIGHT KITE

A thoroughly captivating story from Buckley (``Take Care of Things,'' Edward Said, 1991, etc.) about three monks, the last of their order, who labor in lonely silence in a crumbling monastery on a hilltop, forgotten by the villagers below. When Nicholas and Anarilla bring their new orange kite to fly on the hillside and are forced to leave it entangled in a tree at nightfall, the monks—in unspoken accord—carefully bring it down and fly it by the light of the full moon. When the children return the next day, they realize that the monastery is inhabited after all and leave the kite again at sunset where the monks will find it. This time the brothers make a second kite, and from then on the children (and their friends) fly the kites during the day and the monks fly them at night. With this sweet tale of people from different worlds sharing a love of an exhilarating, innocent pastime come paintings in a deep blue and gold palette. Primavera captures the magic of moonlight on the sea, candlelight on ancient stone, and kite tails snapping against a backdrop of stars. (Picture book. 5-10)