“Kakapo [a green New Zealand parrot] was crazy about karate.” She practiced daily at the dojo. The only move she was not able to do was the flying kick, after all, kakapas do not fly. Soon Kakapo was ready for her next karate advancement test. This test was for her black belt. At the test, Kakapo proceeded perfectly through all of the kicks, jumps, and blocks. Her final test would be a flying side kick. She would not even try it. Then, the senseis asked her to do a jumping side kick. Kakapo was puzzled. She had never heard of one before. She reasoned it out. Did it. Then, realized the senseis had tricked her into doing a flying side kick, simply by renaming it. Kakapo had earned her black belt.

Here is a child’s version of “A rose by any other name”.

All of Stacy Curtis’ action karate illustrations bring back my memories as a parent of a student of tae kwon do. Good memories.