Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword
Barry Deutsch
144 pages
Publication Date: November 2010
Amulet Books
Source: Library
I love this book! Love love love! I love it so much that I checked it out of the library on Thursday, read it Thursday night, reread it Friday morning, and then bought it right afterwards. Enough gushing for now. I should at least tell you what this great book is about.
click on the picture to enlarge
Mirka Hirschberg is a spunky eleven-year-old who dreams of fighting dragons. The problem though is her family has other plans for her. As Orthodox Jews her slightly older sister Gittel wants her to start thinking about marriage, her stepmother Fruma wants her to become a better knitter while her younger brother Zindel thinks fighting dragons is for grown men. Mirka will not be deterred. She has no idea how she’s going to find or fight a dragon until she happens to find a witch’s home deep in the local woods of her town. When she steals a grape from the garden of the witch’s pig, that’s when the real adventure starts.
I don’t think there can ever be enough strong female characters in literature and Mirka is a great addition. She’s a girl who’s true to herself while understanding the obligations she has in her family and community. The town she lives in, Hereville, is populated mostly by Hasidic Jews and Deutsch doesn’t shy away from showing us how religion and culture are intertwine in Mirka’s life. Readers don’t need to have any knowledge of Judaism to read this book.
For young readers who enjoy fantasy, Hereville is a book to add to their permanent collections. The witch in the story is unnamed and believable. She’s not a villain but a recluse who lives on the outskirts on the tiny town. I have so many questions about the witch, her background, and how does she know Fruma which is revealed in the story. The witch’s pig is another character I would love to know more about. It talks, grows a vegetable garden, and swears revenge on all who angers it.
I could keep going on and on about this story but that’s enough blabbering from me. Just go out and buy the book. You won’t regret it.
Fortunately I already own it, so I’ll just go and read it
Unfortunately I don’t own it, but now must have after such a raving review.
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Unfortuantley I dont own it either… Well for the moment at least!
unfortunately I don’t own it either. Well, like Darren, I think I’ll be getting it soon.
Just requested it from the library, so I should have it on Monday.
I loved Hereville and its the first in a planned series. Lucky Us
This sounds fabulous and what great drawings!!
It’s the first in a planned series? Oh hooray! I love reading the first of a planned series, although I may go ahead and wait until subsequent books are released.
Hopefully my library has this!
Wow, that sounds interesting! I still need to pick up the graphic novels I have– somehow I’m afraid to take that step.
Sounds fantastic, great review
This sounds adorable! I hope my library has it
I’m going to check this out at the library now! This sounds wonderful!
This sounds wonderful. Another book that goes on the “I really should start reading graphic novels” list.
A witch *and* a pig?! How could I resist!
::rushes off::
You’ve sold me on this one. If my library doesn’t have it, I think I’ll probably have to buy it – it sounds irresistible!
Wow, this isn’t my usual fare but it apparently really is THAT good. ;O)
Oh, this one sounds like one I would really like and I bet my children would love it too. I love the thought of the witch’s pig being such a strong character in the story. Off to add this to my list. Thanks for the excellent and enticing review!
This sounds so good! Great review! I love how the gushing comes right out of you and goes into the blog- I’ll definitely keep an eye out for this one!
I’ve heard *really* good things about Hereville. I’m going to have to bump it up for the comic-a-week posts!
Wish I could get into graphic novels and the like but they have never been my cup of tea.
Just added it to my queue at the library! Thank you for the review.
This sounds amazing! My library has it, but it’s being processed at the moment, so who knows how long it’ll take before I can get my hands on it. Great review!
Oh wow, sold! I’ll add it to the wish list in my notebook so that as soon as we purchase all the Bone volumes, the children and I can move on to this. Thanks, V!
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I loved this one too! I bought it for my school library and dug into it when it came in and absolutely adored it. It’s nice to have a female character who is strong in middle grade fiction.
My 8-year-old son and I really love this one too. I told my orthodox cousin about it, but she thought I was making it up (until I showed her a link to it and then she said, “Oy!”).
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