THE EMPEROR AND THE KITE
Illustrated by Ed Young
World Publishing, ISBN # LC 67-138161967 hardcover
Collins World edition ISBN # 0-529-00255-8 hardcover
Philomel ISBN # 0-399-21499-2 hardcover and paperback
Putnam Paperstar ISBN # 0-698-11644-5 paperback

This story about a Chinese emperor who is saved by his youngest and most insignificant daughter won a Caldecott Honor Book in 1968 for illustrator Ed Young. It was the first of three books that I have done with him. (The others: Seventh Mandarin and The Girl Who Loved the Wind.) He used a Chinese papercut technique, perhaps the first time such was done as illustration for a modern children's book. I found the line "The Emperor Shin was saved from a tower where he was imprisoned by means of a kite" when I was doing research for my father's book about kite flying. (My father was the International Kite Flying Champion and author of two books on kite flying--which I mainly wrote--and numerous articles on the subject.) That line stuck with me for many years. The book is semi-autobiographical in that I had always wanted to please my father and never seemed to get it right.

Only the Philomel hardcover and Putnam Paperstar editions are available now.

Recording: There is a sound film strip of THE EMPEROR & THE KITE from Listening Library, # JFS 151.

What reviewers have said: "A familiar jewel polished to unaccustomed brilliance." Booklist

"It is rare to find a book where the beauty of the language and imageare so finely meshed as in this tale of loyalty and love. " -- United Press International