Airplane rides are good for intimate conversations with people you've never met and will never meet again (I have no idea why...) and catching up on personal reading. I got halfway through The Spirit Dragon on my ride to the New England Uechi promotional, and the rest of the way through it on my business trip here to Phoenix.
Yes, the weather is great here. Sorry about the ice, New Englanders...
Kerry was kind enough to donate a copy of the book to me for my perusal and review. I am glad I got the opportunity to go through it.
Let me start off with a negative, because it will bug you if you pick up this Moonfire Publication edition. It does't take long reading the book before you realize that there was a serious problem with editing of this manuscript. It's a shame, because the material is really good and I would want my son to read this. The three most prevalent problems - and they absolutely are prevalent - are:
* use of threw instead of through
* use of to instead of too
* an excess use of commas.
In any case, I'm sure that there are half a dozen Uechika (myself included) that wouldn't mind being given digital copies of the manuscript to do some fairly basic editing. It isn't rocket science; this is a kid's book after all (target audience around 10 years of age). It would take more than an afternoon to edit 148 pages but...the effort would be worth it. Kerry tells me that things didn't quite work out right with her publisher, and she's trying to arrange to have things redone.
Nevertheless, this is a very, very nice piece of work. What Kerry and/or a publisher lack in spelling and basic punctuation is made up for with a very imaginative plot. The main character is an overweight child by the name of Brandon who is being mercilessly picked on by a delinquent kid in his school (Peter). Interlaced in the plot are Brandon's dreams, where he confronts riddles presented to him by animal characters found in the Uechi martial arts system (first a tiger, then an crane, and subsequently a dragon). Brandon is lucky enough to stumble on a martial arts school where he begins to learn Uechi karate, and the puzzling dreams and his life slowly begin to fall into place. One might think that (s)he could predict the ending, but it isn't quite so obvious as it is in The Karate Kid. Kelly's imagination provides a challenge for the young reader, and the benefits of practicing martial arts are conveyed in ways that everyone can appreciate. The fighting is almost an afterthought. Parts of me wonders if Kerry has ever studied any basic psychology - particularly adolescent development and dream analysis. While it isn't that sophisticated, a young kid reading the book might just have a spark placed within that one day could grow into a love for behavioral sciences.
I am going to have my own 10-year-old son read the book to see what he thinks. I am thinking he will enjoy it. I will want to tell him to look for the spelling and punctuation issues. Who knows - maybe I can make THAT an exercise for him, and turn the lemon into lemonade. In any case, I think most kids studying Uechi ryu - or any martial art for that matter - would enjoy this book. Even an older kid like me...
Oh and one last thing... Kerry plans at least two more books in a series. They too should be worth the purchase and a read.
- Bill
