Kirkus Reviews QR Code
A KITE FOR CARLOS by Mariana Prieto

A KITE FOR CARLOS

By

Pub Date: April 15th, 1966
Publisher: John Day

Subtitled: ""A story about a little Spanish American boy told in English and Spanish."" Those last three words in the subtitle are really the operative area for a market hungry for dual language texts. It's not much of a story and the illustrations switch between graphic realism and cartoon lines with murky single color washes on some pages. Carlos, a Cuban in Florida, got a kite on his birthday given by his aged grandfather. After the birthday party Carlos promised to study but a neighbor persuaded him to take the kite out. Because of lack of skill, which his grandfather had promised to remedy, Carlos lost the beautiful, handmade kite and learned a birthday lesson about responsibility and obedience. The moral is too heavy in Spanish or English.