Team Taekwondo Book 1: Ara's Rocky Road to White Belt (Family Comic Friday)

Welcome to another edition of Family Comic Friday. We continue our preview of family friendly comics coming out for this year's Free Comic Book Day event on May 5th. But first, we'll learn a little bit of the martial art of Taekwondo as we review ATA International's new line of graphic novels for young reader Team Taekwondo. 

We've got a lot to cover today, so let's get started...

Team Taekwondo Book 1: Ara's Rocky Road to White Belt

Written by Master Taekwon Lee, Jeffrey Nodelman
Art by Ethen Beavers

Published by Rodale Kids

Poor little Ara. The young turtle is awfully shy and is often overshadowed by the achievements of his older brothers. For Ara, another successful day is finding a new rock for his collection. His just needs a little confidence and he might just get it thanks to a chance encounter.

One day while hunting rocks, Ara goes further than he's ever traveled before. It's here that Ara meets a young tiger named Baeoh. Baeoh is practicing his taekwondo kicks and could use a spotter for the special move of breaking a board with his hands. 

After a successful practice with Ara, Baeoh invites the turtle to follow him to his master's dojo. There, Ara is introduced to the martial art and taught principles of honor, respect and positive self confidence. When the class is over, Ara is invited to return for another class. At the end of that class, Ara could earn a white belt if he can break a board with his hands!

Will Ara accept the challenge? Is he strong enough to break that board? Or will our shy turtle friend seek solace in his comfy shell?

This was a great book for all varieties of young readers. Fans of funny animals, manga and anime will delight in this book. It's also a great introduction to the art of taekwondo.

Parents, if you are afraid that this book will influence your child to beat up people, relax! Yes, the characters in the book practice some sweet flying kicks and steel-handed chops. But the focus of this book is taekwondo's practices of discipline and positivism. 

This book was published by Rodale Books in cooperation with ATA International. ATA International is a North American organization dedication to the study and practice of taekwondo. They have charters for over 1500 individually owned and operated schools and clubs nationwide.

The Team Taekwondo series is written by Master Taekwon Lee, a sixth degree black belt and master instructor along with a fellow practitioner of taekwondo, Jeffery Nodelman. Nodelman has written numerous children's books such as Disney's Doug Chronicles. You can tell who wrote what sections. Master Lee obviously had a hand in the parts of this story where Ara is taught about taekwondo whereas Nodelman designed the scenes where Ara and his father talk about commitment and courage. 

Tackling the artwork for this series is Samurai Jack's Ethen Beavers. That's a good choice for Team Taekwondo as Beavers has extensive experience drawing scenes of martial arts and oriental design thanks to his work on the Cartoon Network property. He creates an adorable line-up of species from the animal kingdom and world of myth to occupy the team.

My only issue was with the coloring at the back of the book. There's a great section at the end that explains the different types of belts that are achieved from practicing taekwondo. One level is supposed to be brown but it really looks black instead. The book doesn't mention that the color is supposed to be brown until later on. Thus I couldn't understand why one student who had a red belt was at a higher belt level than the taekwondo master who had a black belt. 

I don't know if this is Ethen Beavers' fault or the editors. But that one section doesn't translate very well. It's too late to correct in Book 2, which has already been published earlier this year. But if the introduction to taekwondo section is added at the end of all of the books, hopefully the editors will correct this error before the release of Book 3. The third volume of Team Taekwondo is scheduled for release sometime in 2019.

If you find that the young reader in your life is inspired to learn more about taekwondo, look no further than the back page. There you can find a link to redeem a free starter class at an ATA International center nearest you (some restrictions do apply.) 

Recommended for readers aged 6-10, this book might be what sparks a life-long relationship with taekwondo and other martial arts with the young reader in your life. 

Team Taekwondo Book 1: Ara's Rocky Road to White Belt can be found at a variety of online booksellers including Amazon and even your local library now!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Sparks #1 FCBD 2018
Written by Ian Boothby
Art by Nina Matsumoto

August is a brilliant inventor who is afraid of the outside. Charlie is a crack pilot who isn't afraid of anything. Together these pals save lives every day. They also happen to be cats who pilot a powerful, mechanical dog suit! Always eager to leap into danger, this feline duo have their work cut out for them as they try to thwart Princess, an evil alien bent on enslaving mankind. Don't let the fact that Princess looks like a cute, diaper-wearing baby fool you. She's clever, determined, and totally ruthless. So when Princess and the browbeaten fools she calls servants enact a brilliant and dastardly plan to conquer Earth, August and Charlie pull out all the stops to save the day.
Rated: All-Ages.
SRP: FREE
Release Date: May 5, 2018