The poem "The Kites" by Daphne Lister captures the joyful imagination of a child watching kites fly across a breezy sky. The bright and colourful kites look just like birds soaring through the wind. Looking at them, the child wishes to become very small and as light as air. The child dreams of climbing onto a kite, sitting on its paper wings, and sailing into the sky to listen to the sweet songs sung by the wild wind.
From that great height, flying on the kite would be wonderful fun. The child imagines looking down at the green parks and the rooftops of the town below. The people walking on the streets would stop, stand, and stare up in surprise. They would wish that they could fly high up in the sky just like the child. The poem beautifully describes the feelings of joy, adventure, and freedom through simple words, rhyming lines, and lovely comparisons.
In addition to the poem, the chapter helps students learn about the essential parts of a kite, such as the nose, spine, cover, tail, kite line, and reel. Students also discover different shapes of kites, including diamond, delta, parafoil, box, and rokkaku kites. The chapter also shares the cultural history of kites in India. Ancient texts and the thirteenth-century Marathi poet Namadeva wrote about paper kites called gudi. Today, kite flying is a joyful tradition during Indian festivals like Uttarayan, Basant Panchami, Baisakhi, and Independence Day.