THE DRAGON KITE

Though billed as a ""picture-book story"" this has the dimensions, format and simple sentences of the various beginning-to-read series. Lewis touches on the Tibetan customs of box kite flying, the mountain woman's method of making butter from Yak's milk, the crowds and animals on a city street, and a few incidentals of life inside a monastery -- all in the trim tale of an eight-year-old boy who hopes to find ""The Great Dragon"" he once saw in the sky, looks for it during a birthday visit to the city, finds it at last in a monastery (where to our Western discomfort he will decide to stay) and even takes a skyride in it when the monks fly it from the mountain. There is no hint of any spiritual considerations involved in the child's decision to become a monk, but the kite ride will be enough reward for most, and Le Cain's quietly striking pictures, employing a red that takes on an oriental richness against the muted neutral backgrounds, unassertively direct us to details the author mentions.