12th May Kite Day

I read somewhere that it is Kite Day on the 12th May, but on further reading there seems to be a lot of different Kite Days. Flying kites can be such fun for young children and making them even more fun so you probably don't need an excuse to share books about kites at all. In Sydney we have the Festival of Winds in September and I have written about it before here. I wrote here too about my all time favourite kite book, Marcia Vaughan and Patricia Mullins' The Sea Breeze Hotel, but your library might have it. While you are searching look for Marty and Mei-Ling by Phil Cummings and Craig Smith. It too is out of print but also has kite flying as a wonderful community-building catalyst. Two newer books which might inspire you to make and fly kites are:

• Kite Flying by Grace Lim and

• Kite Day by Will Hillenbrand

And while trawling through Google images I found this art work, great to initiate a discussion of the whole role of kites in Japanese culture and to pull out beautiful picture books about Japan.

11th September Festival of the Winds

The Festival of Winds is a colourful Spring festival held annually in the skies above Bondi Beach in Sydney. It is a fun family day out with Australian and international kite flyers demonstrating their expertise, workshops for children and a festival atmosphere.

Whenever I think about kites I am reminded of that wonderful story The Sea-Breeze Hotel by Marcia Vaughan and Patricia Mullins. The kites in this story are magic and make you want to rush out and make your own or at least make tissue paper collages of them flying in the wind. The story theme of co-operation and working together also makes the book a must-read.

If your library doesn't have this book there are always the more factual ones:

• Kite Flying by Grace Lin

• Catch the Wind by Gail Gibbons

• The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine

• Kites Sail High by Ruth Heller