The Legendary Mo Seto

Modesty Seto, ‘Mo’ for short, wants more than anything to become a well-known taekwondo star. She has been working on her taekwondo moves for years and knows she’s ready. A movie is being filmed in Mo’s hometown of Los Angeles, California. At 12 years of age, Mo is good at taekwondo but a bit on the short side. When she finds out that there is a height restriction of five feet to audition, she panics. Mo is several inches shorter than that. What follows is a crazy scheme to add four to six inches of height to her small stature as well as bulk to her slim figure. With the assistance of her friend Natcho, Mo tries platforms and playdough in her shoes. She also decides to wear two thick sweatshirts to every audition to give her added height and bulk. Mo manages to fool people, for awhile.

In the meantime, Mo’s number one fan, her father, is acting very strangely, and suddenly he disappears entirely. As Mo is looking for clues as to where her father is, she finds an ancient but interesting book hidden amongst his things. The Book of Joy shows many unique martial arts moves that Mo begins to practice in secret. Perhaps by using these moves Mo can make a good impression on the movie director and get a part in the movie. But why does Dad have this book?
With Dad gone, Mo’s mother isn’t sure Mo should spend all her time and energy on taekwondo. Mo’s mother wants her daughter to experience other cultural things and is pushing Mo to take flute lessons or anything other than the marital arts that Mo loves. Mo begins sneaking out of the house at all hours to practice martial arts, get help and advice from her friend, Natcho, and to go to the auditions for the movie, without telling Mom. Suddenly, bad things start happening on the movie set. Why are dangerous things happening, and does the Book of Joy have something to do with it?

The Legendary Mo Seto is an action-packed adventure, and anyone interested in taekwondo or other forms of martial arts might enjoy reading it. Mo and her friend, Natcho, feel a bit stiff; however, the fast-paced action carries the story. It is unfortunate the story is set in Los Angeles, when Canada, specifically Vancouver and Toronto, has a thriving movie industry. As well, taekwondo and other forms of marital arts are very popular in Canada, and I think young readers would be more interested in reading about Canadian characters and learning about the movie industry closer to home. It is so important for Canadian kids to see themselves represented in Canadian literature that depicts characters like themselves dreaming of being in movies, not just in the USA but also in Canada.

One strange thing that kept interrupting my thoughts as I read was Mo mentioning her favourite Cody Kwok movie. She did this on four or five occasions throughout the story, and each time she mentioned the title of a different movie. This kept pulling me out of the story as I wondered which movie was actually Mo’s favourite. I also wondered if this was supposed to be a humorous part of the story and a funny way of saying Mo loved all of Cody Kwok’s movies, without actually stating it. To me, if that is the case, this missed its mark and only ended up confusing me. All in all, though, The Legendary Mo Seto was an interesting read.