Customer Reviews

Karate Hour (Booklist Editor's Choice. Books for Youth (Awards))

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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Karate Hour is a beautifully done book. It is done in verse, very cleverly, as the book goes through the karate class. The illustrations are breathtaking and look like photographs.. Although Karate Hour is in many respects, non fiction, it is also a work of art, where poetry and visual arts combine. Very well done.

The illustrations in this book are incredible. They come at you from unusual and creative angles. They are so detailed and realistic you would almost swear they were photographs. They are primarily black, brown and white, with the only splashes of color coming from the karate student's belts. It surprising the illustrator did not win the Caldecott Medal for this book. Hopefully he'll do another book soon and get the deserved recognition.
The author does a nice job introducing the reader to the basic history and beliefs of karate in the note at the end of the book but her poetry in the main section is content free and requires some rather strained routes to close out her rhymes.
This book would be a great gift for any child under 10 just getting introduced to karate.

Karate Hour's powerful, rhythmic text captures the flow of karate, while the stunning illustrations make you feel like you're right there. My preschooler likes to follow along with the movements, even though he's not studying karate yet. This is one book you'll want to read again and again.

Review by Sherry North, Author, Because You Are My Baby

My 4 year old twin godsons want to read this book first every day. They decided to start taking karate lessons because of it. I don't even know why they like it so much; it's good, yes, but they're entranced like it's magic. I'm thrilled, so are their parents, and now the boys are learning how to be peaceful warriors. It all started with this book: how cool is that?