This story is heartwarming and like a hug from your favorite person. I love how the kite represent what the mom is going through. The validation of all the emotions is uplifting.

Kite Day by Lisa Varchol Perron is an absolute rhyming delight that perfectly captures the magic of a breezy spring afternoon. With its rhythmic prose and vibrant energy, it’s a picture book that begs to be read aloud.

Why it’s a winner:
Lyrical Perfection: The rhyme and meter are flawless, making it a "storytime superstar" that keeps toddlers and preschoolers engaged from start to finish.

Sensory Storytelling: Perron doesn’t just tell you about the wind; she uses words that make you feel the "snap," "swish," and "soar" of the day.

Gorgeous Illustrations: The artwork is bright, cheerful, and full of movement, perfectly mirroring the upward trajectory of a kite in flight.

Sweet Themes: Beyond the fun, it’s a gentle celebration of patience, perseverance, and the simple joy of outdoor play.

Final Verdict: This is a modern classic for the spring season. It’s short, sweet, and soaring with charm—a perfect addition to any home or classroom library.

Kite Day by Lisa Varchol Perron is a cozy yet powerful picture book that offers young readers an honest and hopeful look at living with a parent who struggles with mood disorder. It’s the kind of story that handles a complex topic with care, empathy, and a lot of heart. 

The story follows a young boy as he navigates the emotional ups and downs of life with his mother. Some days are bright and joyful, while others feel heavy and confusing. Instead of explaining everything directly, Perron uses the simple act of flying a kite as a beautiful metaphor for these emotional highs and lows. Just like a kite rising in a good day and falling in the bad day, the family experiences moments of difficulty as well as moments of hope. 

The lyrical writing makes the story feel sweet but also reflective, allowing young readers to understand big emotions without feeling overwhelmed. The watercolor illustrations by Siski Kalla add even more emotional depth. They are expressive, soft, and full of feeling, perfectly capturing the atmosphere of each moment in the story. 

One particularly touching scene shows the boy and his mother repairing a torn kite together. As the kite is carefully stitched back together, the illustrations mirror the healing happening in their lives. The mother begins to share her feelings with others, reconnect with daily routines, practice yoga, and accept support from people around her. It’s a quiet but powerful reminder that healing often happens step by step. 

What makes Kite Day especially meaningful is how much compassion it shows for both the child and the parent. The story acknowledges the difficult moments that can come with mental health struggles, but it also highlights love, resilience, and the importance of support. 

The book also includes an author’s note and helpful back matter that explain mood disorders in language children can understand. These sections make the book not only a moving story but also a valuable resource for families and educators who want to start conversations about mental health. 

Overall, Kite Day is a beautifully written and thoughtfully illustrated picture book. It’s an important social and emotional learning (SEL) story that can help children understand complicated feelings, especially if someone they love is facing mental health challenges. More than anything, it reminds readers that even during life’s difficult moments, hope and connection can help us find our balance again.

The book explains what it can be like for people with mood disorders and the ups and downs of mental health. Every day can potentially be different, these days can be stressful and confusing but the book helps to explain what it can be like, using in the book the change of the seasons which affects whether they can do kite flying that day or not. I suffer with my mental health at time and it is books like this that are great to explain to my daughter how some days I can feel up or down. The story is well written and easy to follow. The illustrations in the book were great, they were nice, bright and colourful and help bring the story to life. It is 5 stars from me for this one - very highly recommended!

Thank you so much to Moon & Bird and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

A delicate and very creative story about mood disorders in a parent. The story follows a little boy and his Mamuś who is having a good day, together they go fly his kite. He doesn’t get to fly his kite every day though, as some days it doesn’t work and some when his Mamuś can’t fly it makes him a little angry, but he knows the kite days will come back, they always do.

I really loved the symbolism with the kite, it turned the mood disorder to a real thing a child can see, from the sunny days when it’s happy and his Mamuś goes to play outside with him, to the days she tries to push herself but it’s really difficult, to the days that she cannot do a thing at all so the kite lays there broken waiting to be patched together again. It was really wonderfully created and is a great way to show a child about mood disorders.

The illustrations were great to showcase the moods also, seeing as the seasons changed, how her mood changed. Because though mood disorders don’t change due to the seasons they have their very own seasons from a good patch, an I can do things patch, to this is a struggle path and lastly to the I literally cannot do anything patches. I really loved how it was illustrated to showcase that and all the stages that came with it.

A very beautifully delicately done book, filled with lots of symbolism. It’s great for children to learn about, and is a great resource and possibly even a comfort read for children that have a family member that struggles with a mood disorder. It also had extra information in the back of the book sharing more details about mood disorders.