What the Kite Saw

What the Kite Saw, with words by multiple award-winning and internationally recognized author Anne Laurel Carter and pictures by award-winning illustrator Akin Düzakin, is a haunting, indelible picture book that, according to the author, “was inspired by Palestinian children. It could take place anywhere children love to fly kites and are threatened by war.” Tackling the weighty themes of love, loss, war, family, hope, courage and freedom, this moving tale will linger in the minds and hearts of readers long after the last arresting page is turned.

When soldiers occupy his town and take away his older brother and father, a young boy must remain at home under strict curfew with his mother and younger sister. With his world turned upside down by fear, the first night of the curfew the boy can’t stop staring at the empty places of his brother and father, and his sister can’t stop crying. A tank crawls down his street that night, grinding stones in its path and shining a chilling spotlight in the park where the boy plays with his friends. Each day the curfew is lifted for a brief time, and the boy meets his friends at the park. In the evenings, he draws pictures and tells stories, sometimes hearing the “sharp crack of gunfire”. One day, while at the park with his friends when curfew is lifted, the boy sees the treetops “dance” in the wind and is inspired by an idea which he shares. He makes a yellow star-shaped kite and flies it on his rooftop at night “after the tank rumbled by”. As time goes by, he sees other colourful kites flying over the rooftops in his neighbourhood after dark. But one night he hears gunfire, and “one by one, the kites fell”. The young boy cuts the string to his kite, then sees the kite dart and dance before it disappears. In the final poignant scene, after returning home, the boys tells a story about everything he imagines the kite sees, including himself as a winged figure soaring high above the sea, with a vision of two figures waving to him at the seaside below.

With What the Kite Saw, Anne Laurel Carter, who divides her time between Riverport, Nova Scotia, and Toronto, Ontario, has penned a penetrating, enduring story of not only the atrocities of war, but also the resiliency of the human spirit and the power of imagination, as told through the insightful eyes of a young child. And artist Akin Düzakin, who majored in visual communications at the National Academy of Craft and Art Industry and who lives in Oslo, Norway, through his skillful use of soft pastels, with details in crayon and watercolour, has crafted a compellingly atmospheric and wholly believable world. Through a combination of single and double-page spreads—all in muted, sombre tones of brown and grey—and the stirring use of foreground and background composition (such as the menacing image of a closed window with the dark arm of a tank’s main gun lurking just beyond the curtains and the glass), Duzakin complements Carter’s stark, evocative verse, laying bare the raw realities of war, but without ever including obvious physical violence.

Although What the Kite Saw does spotlight the tragedy and danger of war, Carter’s inclusion of the simple act of flying a kite as a way for a young boy to find solace in uncertain times is a brilliant symbol of hope, freedom and strength (and so timely during this pandemic). Destined to be an invaluable go-to resource and a powerful tool for teachers, librarians and parents, and ideal as an introduction to the concept of war to young children, this 32-page must-read will undoubtedly spark much deep, meaningful thought and conversation.