TITLE: The Karate Kid
Illustrated by Kim Smith, adapted by Rebecca Gyllenhaal from the film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen (Quirk Books, May), 40 pages, $18.99.
STORY: On his first day in his new school, bullies wearing karate jackets target Daniel. They are training for a tournament. They chase him home from school and are about to beat him up when a small, elderly man jumps in. He throws fancy martial arts moves. The meanies beat it.
This is Mr. Miyagi, the janitor of Daniel's new apartment. Daniel begs him for karate lessons so he can enter the tournament and beat the bullies' leader, Johnny. Instead of teaching Daniel to punch, kick and grunt, his secret sensei has the boy wash and wax cars, sand a deck, paint a building.
After days of such chores, Miyagi shows a protesting Daniel how the motions of work translate into karate.
Then comes the tournament. Unlike the movie, there's no illegal sweep of Daniel's leg, no backstage acupressure to fix a trashed knee. Johnny is on his way to winning when Daniel pulls out the famous crane move.
There's nothing memorable in the prose, but the art is engaging. And if this pop culture picture book interests a kid who likes the movie and isn't usually turned on by books, it's useful.
— Celia Storey
Read to Me is weekly review of short books.
Style on 07/29/2019