Over the years, as the popularity of kites has spread beyond Asia, they have become widely known as children's toys. They sure are more than just great toys, though.

The first kites are believed to have been built in China, about 3000 years ago. History shows that they've had many different uses and meanings. In the 19th century, they were used for scientific experiments; in the 20th and 21st centuries, for military purposes, amongst many other things.

Some believe that kites may have been brought from China to Japan and other Asian countries as part of early religious festivals or ceremonies. Brightly colored kites could entertain the gods, and the successful raising of a kite into the sky was seen as a good omen for the coming year.

Kite and kite-flying are often featured in poetry, legends, folk tales and fiction books from and about Asia. Ingeniously designed and colorfully decorated, they sure are mesmerizing. No wonder they were outlawed in China, during the 18th century, for distracting shopkeepers from their duties... Many in Asia fly their kites this time of the year as a way to welcome the new year and the signs of a new spring season.

Below is a list of great books related to South and Southeast Asia that feature kites and
kite-flying in a prominent way. There's a lot to learn from these stories and hopefully they will resonate with young readers' personal experiences of making and flying kites.

Bruce Edward Hall, illustrated by William Low
Henry and the Kite Dragon.
Philomel, 2004.
In this touching story based on true 1920's events, two rival groups from San Francisco Chinatown and Little Italy come face to face, flying kites at the neighborhood park, and finally find they share much more than just the same sky.

2005 Irma S. and James H. Black Honor Book
Winner of the 2005 SCWBI Golden Kite Award

Jane Yolen, illustrated by Ed Young
The Emperor and The Kite.
originally published by Collins World, in 1968.
reprinted by Putnam, 1998.

"The Emperor Shin was saved from a tower where he was imprisoned by means of a kite..."
Ignored by her own family, a Chinese princess spends her days playing with a kite made from paper and sticks. But when the Emperor is imprisoned in a high tower, she saves the day, flying her kite high up into the sky to rescue him.

1968 Caldecott Honor Book

Geraldine McCaughrean ,
The Kite Rider.
Oxford University Press, 2001.

In the dramatic world of thirteenth-century China, a man is chosen to ride the ship's hatch into the sky, like a giant kite. The flight of the hatch will determine the destiny of the ship. He is survived by his son, twelve-year-old Haoyou, who is offered a chance to escape his family's poverty and the pain of his father's death by becoming a kite rider at Great Miao's circus. He accepts the challenge and skillfully performs for local villagers, who believe he can bring back messages from lost loved ones whose spirits haunt the sky. But Great Miao is not all that he seems and Haoyou must learn how to survive the very thing that killed his father.

2001 Smarties Book Bronze Award
Short listed for the 2001 Carnegie Medal

Linda Sue Park,
The Kite Fighters.
Clarion, 2000.

This is Newbery Medallist Linda Sue Park's story of a young boy named Young-sup, who in 15th century Korea tries to overcome his rivalry with his older bother. He feels frustrated with tradition, which says that Kee-sup, for being the eldest, is the one to represent the family at the New Year kite-fighting contest. After some trials and tribulations, the two brothers end up challenging tradition and combining their kite-flying and kite-making skills to win the yearly, much anticipated contest.

2002 California Young Readers Medal
2001 Notable Books for a Global Society
2000 Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year

Demi,
Kites: Magic Wishes That Fly Up to the Sky.
Crown, 1999.

This beautiful book tells the story of how kites came to be and the significance of the symbols traditionally painted on them. It also provides information about kite festivals around the world, and kid-friendly directions for making and painting kites. It is a book that celebrates kite-making and kite-flying in a fascinating way.

Valerie Reddix, Jean Tseng, Mou-Sien Tseng
Dragon Kite of the Autumn Moon.
Harper Collins, 1992.

Every year Tin and his grandfather fly a kite to celebrate Kite's day, and as Taiwanese custom dictates, they cut it free at nightfall, so it can carry any misfortunes away, and burn it if it happens to fall back to earth. When grandfather gets ill and is unable to make a new kite for the festival, Tin decides to fly his special dragon kite, the one grandfather made when he was born, in the hopes that the freed kite would rise and carry away his grandfather's misfortunes. As it turns out the kite does soar away over the mountains, leaving a healthy grandfather and a happy and thankful boy behind.

Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by Yongsheng Xuan.
The Story of Kites.
Holiday House, 2003.

Demi's Kites and Jane Yolen's The Emperor and the Kite both speculate about the origins of kites in China, but the playfulness and creativity of this book makes this version specially appealing. There are no precise records of how or why the kite was invented, yet theories concerning these beautiful objects make for very engaging tales, such as this one.

To try to keep the birds out of the rice fields, the Kang brothers experiment with paper and chopsticks and come up with an object that floats into the sky. Their "math homework attached to a chopsticks-frame and flown from a string" makes all the villagers excited and do succeed in frightening the birds away. Everybody is so taken by the object that the Kang family decides to open China's first kite factory.

Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Laura Fernandez and Rick Jacobsen
King of the Skies.
Scholastic, 2001.
Award-winning writer and storyteller Rukhsana Khan, tells a contemporary story set in Lahore, Pakistan about a boy known as the "King of the Skies" because of his kite-flying skills. Every year he anxiously awaits Basunt, the kite festival that celebrates the arrival of spring. Unable to walk or run, he relies on his brother and sister to get the kites he has cut free with the sharp twine of his yellow Guddi Chore, or "Kite Thief", as he has named it.

The movement of the kites flying up in the sky and the children running down below is a powerful contrast with the boy's disability, and a beautiful reminder that freedom comes in many colors and shapes.