CHINESE KITE FESTIVAL

Wild creatures revel in their untrammeled freedom.

Each double-page spread of this picture book introduces a different animal engaged in some form of movement. The twist is that the “animals” are really kites, and all the activity happens up in the air. A spotted fish “leaps into the blue sky,” a multihued crab “moves sideways beneath the clouds,” and so forth. The layered paper-cut kites are vibrantly colored. There is a palpable depth and dimension to both the kites and the sky, rendered in digital watercolors. The selection of animals feels random given the lack of an overt narrative thread, but the dreamy parade of artistic forms will pique children’s curiosity and spark their imaginations. Readers may be tempted to breeze through the free-flowing, patterned text, but the figurative language invites us to pause and ponder the layers of meaning. This bilingual book uses English and Simplified Chinese. The backmatter explores the symbolism of the featured animals in Chinese folk cultures.

A simple, atmospheric introduction to Chinese animal names.