The Kite Rider Book

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.

Publishers Weekly

Set in 13th-century China, this novel begins with a 12-year-old boy who witnesses his father's death, then follows him on a journey that takes him to Kublai Khan's court. "With her exuberant, nonstop plotting and supremely colorful setting, the author grabs hold of readers' imaginations and doesn't let go," PW said. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.