A Year of Kites by Monisha Bajaj
A Year of Kites is an informative book about the role kites play in traditions around the world. Replete with beautiful illustrations, it would be a nice addition to elementary classrooms, allowing teachers to combine multiple subjects in their lesson planning: the history of kites, following the directions to use artistic skill to create individual kites, and assessing proper wind conditions needed for kite flying. Sounds like a fun afternoon to me as the kids also will get a few steps in as they let ’em soar!
A Year of Kites by Monisha Bajaj, (List Price: $18.99, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 9781547612246, February 2026)
Reviewed by Barb, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina
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“When I learned about the Lebensborn, many years ago, I had a hard time believing this could be true. When I was able to confirm it, I was deeply appalled and knew I had to write about it. And I felt a book about this subject could only be for adults…the strong feelings I had about the Lebensborn never left me. Even back then, I felt girls should know about this terrible aspect of that war…It wasn’t until I learned, later, that children as young as 11 were working as couriers for the Resistance that the first seed for The Lions’ Run was planted. I began to wonder if those 11-year-olds were aware of how courageous they were. I think a lot about courage in kids; they are often confused about what it means to be brave.”
“There’s a moment in the book where Sage learns that grief is like hunger and that she will always be grieving like there’s never going to be a day that we don’t need to eat,…I can have breakfast, and then by dinnertime, I need to eat again, and next week I’m going to need a meal, and three years from now, I’m going to be hungry. That was freeing for me as a person. It wasn’t just a plot point or something to just put in the book. It was really what I needed for myself to understand that I would always miss my mother, or that there will always be some issue that we’re fighting against and standing up for in this nation, and that I can hold all of that. That’s normal and I’m okay.”
“I’ve moved a lot, including back and forth across the country three times! When I moved to the Washington, DC, area, I learned about luna moths—beautiful and short-lived moths who can only be found on the eastern side of the country. This helped me realize that there would be special and unique things about my new home. Since so many kids deal with the difficult experience of moving, I thought this might be the beginning of a new story idea.”
