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Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword Paperback – October 1, 2012

by Barry Deutsch (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 99 ratings
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Charles M. Schulz Award–winning cartoonist Barry Deutsch introduces a quirky and adventurous heroine in the “utterly ingenious” (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review) Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, first in a fantasy graphic novel series.

Spunky, strong-willed 11-year-old Mirka Herschberg isn’t interested in knitting lessons from her stepmother, or how-to-find-a-husband advice from her sister, or you-better-not warnings from her brother. There’s only one thing she does want: to fight dragons!

Granted, no dragons have been breathing fire around Hereville, the Orthodox Jewish community where Mirka lives, but that doesn’t stop the plucky girl from honing her skills. She fearlessly stands up to local bullies. She battles a very large, very menacing pig. And she boldly accepts a challenge from a mysterious witch, a challenge that could bring Mirka her heart’s desire: a dragon-slaying sword! All she has to do is find—and outwit—the giant troll who’s got it!

A delightful mix of fantasy, adventure, cultural traditions, and preteen commotion, Hereville will captivate middle school readers with its exciting visuals and entertaining heroine.
Hereville series:
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword
Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite
Hereville: How Mirka Caught a Fish
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    8 - 12 years
  2. Part of Series
    Hereville
  3. Print length
    144 pages
  4. Language
    English
  5. Grade level
    3 - 7
  6. Lexile measure
    GN320L
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  8. Publisher
    Amulet Paperbacks
  9. Publication date
    October 1, 2012
  10. ISBN-10
    9781419706196
  11. ISBN-13
    978-1419706196
  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barry Deutsch attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Portland State University. He won the national Charles M. Schulz Award for Best College Cartoonist in 2000 and was nominated for the 2008 Russ Manning Award for Promising Newcomer. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1419706195
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amulet Paperbacks; GPH edition (October 1, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781419706196
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419706196
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 12 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ GN320L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 99 ratings

About the author

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Barry Deutsch

Barry Deutsch

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Cartoonist Barry Deutsch lives in Portland, Oregon, in a bright blue house with bubble-gum pink trim and eight (!) housemates, plus a variable number of cats and fish.

His 2010 graphic novel "Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword" was the first graphic novel ever to win the prestigious Sydney Taylor Award, and was also nominated for Eisner, Harvey, Ignatz, and Nebula awards. His new book, "Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite," was published by Abrams in November 2012, and as of this writing (Nov 15 2012) has already received two starred reviews.

Deutsch won the national Charles M. Schulz Award for best college cartoonist in 2000 and was nominated for Comic-Con’s Russ Manning Award for Promising Newcomer in 2008. He is currently working on a third "Hereville" graphic novel.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
99 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Maureen
5.0 out of 5 stars Mirka is just delightful!
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2014
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My oldest daughter is almost seven, and she is an avid reader. She prefers graphic novels to chapter books, and we are always looking for graphic novels with appropriate content for her. We found Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword at the library in the next town over. We enjoyed the book so much that we purchased our own copy. This graphic novel was written and illustrated by Barry Deutsch.

Hereville is subtitled “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl”, and this pretty much sums up the book. Mirka lives with her father and stepmother and blended siblings. Mirka lives in a Jewish enclave, and she is so sheltered from the world that she doesn’t recognize a pig when she sees one. The pig has been following Mirka because Mirka stole from the pig’s garden. The pig does whatever it can to make Mirka’s life miserable, like stealing her homework! But when Mirka intervenes and rescues the pig from boys who are tormenting it, the witch who owns the pig offers a reward: there is a sword in Hereville, but Mirka must defeat the troll who guards the sword. Does Mirka have what it takes to fight a troll?

Deutsch uses a lot of Yiddish expressions, but he always provides a translation. I think that familiarity with the Orthodox culture helps understand the book, but it’s not mandatory. The book provides a fairly accurate portrayal of Orthodox Jewish life- except for the talking pig, etc. Readers will learn a lot about customs and traditions, and how they fit into Mirka’s personality.

Hereville is a very clever book. In the first two pages, Mirka doesn’t want to do knitting, and debates with her stepmother about free will and preordination. This intellectual trend continues throughout the book. While I don’t want to give away the ending, I will say that when Mirka fights the troll, she doesn’t use weapons.

The art style is fairly realistic, and the illustrations are enhanced by the use of the colored pages. Orange pages are used in daytime scenes, and blue pages are used at night. The body language and facial expressions are among the best I have seen.

My daughter and I both enjoyed Hereville. My daughter liked the action and adventure, and I appreciated the intellectual slant. I found the book to be wry, and very clever.

I would absolutely recommend Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword. The reading level is not very high, and this gives the book a broader appeal. Everyone from children in the middle years of elementary school to adults can enjoy Hereville. It’s got action, adventure, and humor- all with an Orthodox slant!
8 people found this helpful
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Shannon
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome strong female characters, sweet family challenges, hillarious story and excellent art.
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2018
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I adore the Mirka stories! I honestly think I ought to write Barry Deutsch a personal thank you note. We have three daughters and a son and we have spent so many quality hours pouring over all three of his incredible graphic novels. I love my children getting to read about strong female characters with strong family ties. His humor is amazing! The art is awesome and so are the twists and turns of each novel (the time loop in the fish book, beyond incredible). We are also a family of faith and I love my children being able to read about other faith traditions (and even a few bits of Yiddish) and to see a bold, adventurous heroine also finding strength in her faith and her family's deep commitment to their Judaism.
I can't recommend his books strongly enough.
2 people found this helpful
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Mom by the Bay
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifuly done
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2011
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Another writer mentioned this book to me, because my uncommon name is shared with the heroine, and is in the title. I HAD to get it.
And in this case I can recommend this middle grade graphic novel to all, even if your name is nowhere in it. In fact, because it is set in a Jewish Shtetl (Yiddish for the Jewish part of town) and most of the names are Yiddish, it is unlikely many potential readers would find their names there.
But what they will find is a cast of good characters, a riveting story, masterful drawing and a lot of Yiddish phrases strewn throughout. These are explained in an unobtrusive way, and are delightful.
Oh, and the main character, Mirka, is a powerhouse of a girl. She's the sort girls and boys would be thrilled to spend a few hours with, and come back again to many more times.
Try it, you'll like it. My grandma was right!
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Abigail
4.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Graphic Novel That Would Appeal to 5+
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2011
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At first this book did not appeal to me because I thought it was too short. I read it again and have then re-read it several times and have now come to like it a lot. It is about a Orthodox Jewish girl named Mirka. In the story she accidentally comes across a witch's home and steals a very large grape. A talking pig suddenly attacks her, eating her homework and butting her off cliffs from behind. But keeping pigs is strictly forbidden in Hereville so her siblings think she is crazy for seeing a talking pig. In the end she has to fight a troll to get the sword that any real hero would have.

This book would appeal to fans of Jeff Smith's  Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume , in fact there is a hidden reference to Bone in the book.

Even though I am Jewish, I have learned a lot about Orthodox Judaism from reading this book, but it would appeal to anyone, Jewish or non-Jewish. I think anyone younger than 5 years old would be scared of parts of this book and some of the drawings could possibly be frightening to a young reader. I think anyone ages 5 - 12 would enjoy Hereville. It's an exciting, well-drawn graphic novel!
3 people found this helpful
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Jeff
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully fun (and funny) graphic novel
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018
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A wonderfully fun (and funny) graphic novel that my reluctant 9 y.o. reader sat and read in one long sitting. She was thrilled to see characters with whom she could identify, and girls who looked and dressed and lived like her and her classmates. I've already bought her the next one, and will most likely by the third book in the not too distant future.
One person found this helpful
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T. Tanner
5.0 out of 5 stars It's "A Troll-Fighting, Eleven-Year-Old, Orthodox Jewish Girl!" What else is there to say?
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016
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Probably the most noticeably unique aspect of this series is that it's set within an orthodox Jewish culture. But besides that it also gives you some delightfully individual personalities. There's Mirka, an eleven-year-old girl who wants more than anything to be a hero and slay monsters. Fruma, her stepmother, one of whose life goals appears to be teaching Mirka how to argue (or is it possibly teaching Mirka logical thinking?). And Mirka's various siblings and step-siblings who deal with her with varying degrees of frustration and success. Personally, I think their whole family would be fun enough to read about, but apparently Barry Deutsch wanted to give us something more, so we also have a crazy, magical adventure involving a witch, a pig, a troll, and some yarn. It's all wonderful, although my favorite part is probably the way Mirka does math.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

WP
5.0 out of 5 stars Gift for nine-year-old
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2015
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Bought this as a gift for my nine-year-old niece. I read the first couple of pages before wrapping it and it looked like a lot of fun--i might need to borrow it! She loved it, though.
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Sonya
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2019
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Absolutely great, we loved it!
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Mrs DGB
5.0 out of 5 stars She was absolutely delighted.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2015
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Bought for my daughter. She was absolutely delighted.
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