Red Kits, Blue Kit

Author: Ji-li Jiang

Illustrator: Greg Ruth

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade level: K-3

Tai Chan likes to fly kites with his father. He flies a red kite. His father flies a blue kite. They fly their kites together all the time with a sense of freedom while he tells him stories. Then one day Japanese soldiers come to their town and ransack it. They take his father to a labor camp and Tai Chan is left in the care of his grandmother. The son and father still fly their kites so they can be free together despite being far away not not exactly free. In the end he returns to his son and they are free again together. 

This story can be used in the classroom to teach a child to be thankful for what they have. It also can be used to teach children about what it was like when China was invaded by Japanese soldiers and put them into labor camps and separated their families. 

The illustrations are beautiful and brightly colored. The kits are the only things that are brightly colored. Everything else is a kind of dull color of dim browns in order for the kites to pop out to the readers. They are layered showing lots of different views. You can see the different action going on in the background of the war.