The Kite Rider - Hardcover

McCaughrean, Geraldine

3.52

1,603 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0066238749 ISBN 13: 9780066238746

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

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Up and up the wind drew him.
Haoyou looked about him and saw the whole
world beneath him. And it was his. He could
breathe! Today Haoyou was a kite, a
windhover riding on spread wings.

The great Miao master of the Jade Circus, offers twelve-year-old Haoyou the amazing chance to change his life -- to escape from his family's poverty and the pain of his father's recent death -- by becoming a kite rider!

Strapped onto a beautiful scarlet -- and-gold kite, Haoyou is sent into the sky to soar perilously among the clouds and entertain the awestruck crowds below. Traveling the Empire as part of the Jade Circus, Haoyou earns freedom, money, and unexpected fame -- as he skillfully performs for local villagers who believe he can bring back messages from lost loved ones whose spirits haunt the sky. Miao even plans for Haoyou to perform before the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan himself!

But what about the duties that bind Haoyou to the ground -- his duties to his family, especially to his widowed mother? And is the Great Miao all that he seems, or could he be using Haoyou in a treacherous plot?

From incredibly versatile Carnegie Medalist Geraldine McCaughrean, author of The Stones Are Hatching, comes this dazzling story of adventure, betrayal, family, and sacrifice set in the dramatic, dangerous world of thirteenth-century China.

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About the Author:

Geraldine McCaughrean is the Printz Award-winning author of The White Darkness. She has been honored with England's most prestigious children's book award, the Carnegie Medal, and is the only three-time winner ever of the Whitbread Children's Book Award. She also wrote Peter Pan in Scarlet, the first official sequel to the treasured masterpiece Peter Pan, and the critically acclaimed The Death-Defying Pepper Roux. Geraldine lives in Berkshire, England, with her husband and actress daughter.

From AudioFile:

When 12-year-old Haoyou's beloved father is killed, he must protect his little family from greedy relatives and from Di Chou, the ship's filthy, loutish first mate who caused his father's death. Haoyou manages, with the help of Mipeng, his cousin, to shanghai Di Chou. Before he returns, they run away with the Jade Circus, where Haoyou becomes a kite rider, soaring among the clouds, finding an affinity with the sky spirits. Below, Mipeng pretends to interpret "spirit messages" from the sky, and Chinese history unfolds like a paper fan. Eventually, Haoyou meets Kublai Khan and is conscripted into the Mongol army. Cynthia Bishop narrates the Full Cast audio production, as thrills, near-death experiences, and meticulous historical detail of thirteenth-century Chinese culture make this considerably more than a YA novel. S.J.H. � AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright � AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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