I remember reading or hearing a story when I was a little girl, many many years ago, about how, when a bridge was needed over a particular river, the first step in building it was to fly a kite across, then pull a rope over, and from there, pull over cables until eventually the bridge could be built. When I came across Kite to Freedom and read the description of it, I recognized that story. I read this book to my children, and we all found it quite interesting.
Katie's father worked in Homan's father's grocery store, and after the children had their chores done for the day, they would spend time together. Homan's dog Ella always went along as they explored among the rocks by the river near Niagara Falls. Sometimes they watched the people coming and going from The Cataract House, a huge hotel, and one day they saw something they could not understand: A young black woman ran away from the hotel, jumped into a boat, and was rowed away across the river.
A group of engineers was trying to figure out how to build a bridge across the Niagara River. Because the gorge was 761 feet wide and 200 feet deep at the place they wanted the bridge, they could not figure out how to span it. Then, someone had a bright idea: Announce a kite-flying contest, with a prize for the person who can fly a kite all the way across the gorge! Katie and Homan wanted that prize, and they immediately set to work to build the best kite they had ever used. How could they fly a kite in a snowstorm, though?
Kite to Freedom has several main themes. The kite-flying contest, of course, is the most exciting part of the story, but we also got to learn how the Niagara Falls Suspension bridge was built. Another main theme was the Underground Railroad, as Katie saw unusual and unexplained things happening at times through the years.
I asked my 6-year-old what she thought of this book. She said, “It's good!” I asked her what she liked best, and she said, “The kite-flying contest.” My 9-year-old like the parts about freeing slaves best. This is a great book for children, one that I would love to have on our shelf in print.
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.
WARNING: In Chapter 3 Katie says, “Oh my gosh.” In Chapter 5, Katie lied.

This review will be published on www.ignitelit.com sometime in November 2021.

This is a great middle-grade book that teaches children about how a suspension bridge was built over the Niagra Falls gorge and also teaches them about how different parts of the country viewed slavery in the mid-1800s along with some facts about the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman.

The story is well told and I appreciated Katie's innocence in what she knew as a young lady. While she recognized that she and Homan had different skin colors, they treated each other as equals and didn't think twice about their differences. I think they both learned a lesson about slavery and human rights as they observed a young black woman escaping to freedom in Canada. They are even able to meet her and spend time with her during a snowstorm that left them stranded in Canada for a few days.

I especially enjoyed the part of the story that educated me on how suspension bridges are built and the ingenuity that one person came up with to get the wire over the gorge to the other side. This was no easy task but it was a nice peek into STEM and might influence another young mind in this field.

I enjoyed the illustrations and felt like they capture the scene and the moment and add dimension to the book.

I think this is a must read for middle-grade students. They can learn quite a bit and perhaps whet their appetite for more. We give this book 5 paws up.

Kite to Freedom
The Story of a Kite-Flying Contest, the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge, and the Underground Railroad
by Kathleen A. Dinan
Independent Publishers Group
Cross Your Fingers
Children's Fiction | Middle Grade
Pub Date 25 Mar 2021


I am reviewing a copy of Kite to Freedom through Independent Publishing Group and Netgalley:


Is it possible for a kite to change history? Katie and Homan's did.



After Engineers found themselves faced with the challenge of bridging the vast Niagara Gorge, the solution was a kite-flying contest. After Katie and Homan’s kite crosses the gorge and wins the contest, construction begins on the first suspension bridge to connect the United States and Canada.



The two friends are there and learn that this is an important link on the Underground Railroad helping slaves escape to freedom. Even as her parents try to shield her from the ugly existence of slavery and the dangers of the Underground Railroad, Katie discovers that the scary truth is closer to home than she could have imagined.





Kite to Freedom is an action packed, fictionalized account of actual events that occurred during the construction of the Niagara Falls International Suspension Bridge, which still connects the United States and Canada at Niagara Falls.


I would recommend this book as a teaching tool, as well as just a generally great read to teach children about the Underground Railroad, and slavery.


I give Kite to Freedom five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Thank you so much to Cross Your Fingers And Netgalley for the earc to read and review

The story follows a young girl named Katie as she grows up, starting with a kite flying contest she enters with her friend Homan to guide the construction workers who are building a suspension bridge from New York to Canada. But that bridge was used for something even more vital and important.

I liked this story it was interesting learning about the contest to see who could get their kite safely to the other side and help with the bridge getting built. I liked that Katie and Homan were friends and that they were always helping each other. I liked that Katie eventually learnt everything about the slaves, about their need and right to freedom and also about the kind, good deeds that people secretly did to help in the Underground Railroad using that bridge.

The story jumped very very quickly in my opinion one chapter Katie was 11, then 14 and suddenly she was a woman at 19. The story was good but I think could possibly have been stretched out with more details of the Underground Railroad, we only touched on the subject and I felt like there was a lot more that could have been said and done.

The illustrations were also really beautiful, I loved that they were in black and white as it made perfect sense for the story and they gave a beautiful visual whilst reading.

Overall I liked this story a lot, I would have loved more detail and it to be a bit longer but it was still a very good book, very informative, very sweet protagonist and it was fascinating to learn something I’d never know about before which was about the bridge. Plus we also get to meet Harriet Tubman, which I wasn’t expecting in this story, I loved that.