With The Kite Rider, Carnegie Medalist Geraldine McCaughrean delivers a dazzling story of adventure, betrayal, family, and sacrifice set in the dramatic, dangerous world of thirteenth-century China. A genuine page-turner, ravedALA Booklist in a starred review!

The Great Miao, master of the Jade Circus, offers twelve-year-old Haoyou the amazing chance to change his lifeto escape from his familys poverty and the pain of his fathers recent deathby 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 awestruck crowds below. Traveling the Empire with the 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.

The Great Miao even plans for the boy to perform before the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan himself! But what if the Miao isnt all that he seems? And can Haoyou really leave behind all the duties that bind him to the groundhis family and especially his widowed motherfor good?