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The Kite and Caitlin

By: Roger McGough
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Bodley Head Children's Books
ISBN: 0370323718
ISBN-13: 9780370323718
Released: 01 Jul 1996
RRP: £9.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

The book is too disjointed and does not say that she died. - By: Emily Marbach, 27 Mar 2000
How does one tackle childhood illness & death? It is not easy. Roger McGough's solution is to dilute the subject as much as possible. This is a story of an unloved kite, facts about talll mountains & a girl's fantasy life. McGough transfers the burden of presenting her death from his shoulders to the reader's. Few children would hear this story & understand that Caitlin dies at the end. The reader must explain the ending which will inevitably lead the listener to want to hear it again. Meanwhile, the grown-up is deeply despairing & doesn't want to repeat the story. Caitlin is sick. She lies in her bed & dreams about where her kite can take her. She takes an around the world tour of the talllest mountains in the world on the back of the kite. She is finallly lead to the heavens. With proper editing this book could have been better. Using the words "death", "die" or "dead" is not a crime in a children's book. Many children have to deal with the subject. It would be a shame to Disney-fy death across the board, where people disappear forever when they have clearly kicked the bucket...