Jack's Kite,Used

Product Description This third picture book about the indomitable Jack finds him attempting to fly a kite with little success . . . until some new friends come along to help out.Jack, hero of Jack the Wolf and Jack's Rabbit, is spending the weekend at a campground, anxiously awaiting the arrival of his dad. He tries to fly his new kite but can't seem to get it up into the air. The family who own the campground agree to help out, with near disastrous results. Fortunately, his father comes along at just the right moment, and saves the day. Another charming story with sensational pictures by Yvonne Jagtenberg. From School Library Journal KindergartenGrade 2 Call this "The Curious Incident of the Kite in the Campground" or, perhaps, "Lost in Translation." Jagtenberg is at it again in this third adventure with an oddly appealing boy and, this time round, a rather motley crew of ragtag campground residents. Jack doesn't know how to fly his kite; perhaps with input from this odd assortment of people, he will have it aloft in time for his father's return from work. While the flap copy asserts that this is "a beguiling story about working with others," dense crayon coloring; a disengaged mother; blankfaced figures (one with a saw tucked under his arm); an almostalways unhappy Jack; and a pervasive, heavy dark presence (roads and rooflines, big black birds, bizarre Chernobylish trees, and ominous spewing smokestacks) convey a very different feeling. And although the final spread shows a satisfied Jack, dad at his back, with his raptormotif kite in the air, the bleak, black setting that resembles a walled institutional exercise yard is more creepy than comforting. Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review Horn BookWhat's the use of a kite if you can't make it fly? Jack, the tensefaced little boy from Jack the Wolf (rev. 9/02) and Jack's Rabbit, knows that his father will arrive that evening at the campground where he and his mother are staying and will teach him how to fly the thing. Still, the wait is a long, lonely one, and Dutch artist Jagtenberg mirrors Jack's dejection in her angular crayonandink illustrations, with their ocean of dirty green lawn punctuated by blobby trees and adjacent smokestacks and street lamps. Other people at the campground offer advice and assistance. The family who run the place take turns with the kite and manage to keep it aloft several times. When the boy in the family accidentally lets the kite go and it flies away, all seems lost until a man appears carrying a briefcase in one hand and the wayward kite in the other. "But it wasn't just a man. It was Jack's father!" In this keen reflection of a young child's perspective, Jagtenberg reveals that Dad's presence is all Jack needs to pull his vacation out of its nosedive and send it soaring. About the Author Yvonne Jagtenberg is the author and illustrator of Jack the Wolf and Jack's Rabbit, winner of a Parent's Choice Silver Honor Award. She lives in Heteren, The Netherlands, with her husband and daughter.