A SKY FULL OF KITES

Colin paints a gigantic picture with his new paints, but can't find a place to hang it. Everyone likes it--people at school, the bank, the fire department, the freight yard, the art museum--but no one wants to display it. After a chain of rejections, he turns it into a kite; it flies for three days and three nights, making him famous and putting his artwork in demand. This fable about freedom of expression follows a reliable formula--a hero on a search--but the litany of disappointments stifles an already predictable story (the title points the way). Stiff language chronicles what turns out to be a guided tour of San Francisco, with Hipshman providing scenic locales. Her realistic watercolors are drafted with personality, but the size of Colin's painting keeps shifting; his zeal is admirable, and his persistence childlike, but the book is never very convincing.