Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Review: Hereville

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite
By Barry Deutsch
Expected publication October 31, 2012 by Amulet Books

Intrepid Mirka, our Orthodox Jewish heroine, is back in a new adventure. When a familiar troll accidentally aims a meteor at the witch's house, Mirka warns the witch just in time. Unfortunately, the witch transforms the meteorite into something worse - an identical Mirka! With a new Mirka around who seems to be the better version, the real Mirka soon finds herself wishing for the meteorite back. Is there a way to restore order to Hereville?

I read and loved the first Hereville graphic novel last year - Mirka is a spunky heroine and I wanted to read more about her. Deutsch has delivered in this follow-up tale. What I like most about these series is that Mirka is really struggling to find a balance between what she truly wants and what her family wants from her. In this volume, Mirka is also trying to figure out who she is and if her talents are good enough. The transformed meteorite brings out these insecurities, as the meteorite seems to be better at being Mirka than Mirka herself. I still love that Deutsch has chosen the Orthodox Jewish community as the background for these stories - I feel like I learn something every time I read. My digital review copy was only rough sketches for the second half, but the story was still there and the sketches provided enough information for me to tell what was going on. It will certainly be even more exciting in full-color. I really love this trend of tremendous heroines in junior graphic novels - kids need to see more brave and smart and interesting girl characters. I really enjoyed this and once again find myself desperately hoping that there will be more Mirka adventures to come!

Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy provided via NetGalley.

No comments:

Post a Comment