How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch

Hereville is a town of Orthodox Jews, and the only characters who don’t seem to be Jewish are the witch, the pig, and the troll. In other words, she’s the hero of a fantasy story for kids.īut Mirka is also something that we’ve never seen in speculative fiction’s leading ladies, and that is Orthodox Jewish. She doesn’t intend to break the rules, unless the rules get in the way of what she really, really wants. She doesn’t want to do chores, but she knows chores have to be done. She has a certain genius for arguing, which serves her well, and irritates everyone around her. She’s flawed, too, fighting her siblings when they try to keep her out of trouble.

Plus, the story talks about bullies, ghosts, homework, and step-families, subjects of great importance and interest to kids. The book’s not even about knitting-it really is about how 11-year-old Mirka gets her sword, with which she wishes to kill dragons-but it’s also about balance, and this story is put together with exquisite balance.īut what do 11-year-olds care about balance? It’s also a smashing modern-day fairy tale, complete with a witch (probably not wicked, possibly of ambiguous ethics), a talking pig (seemingly wicked, but probably just has anger management issues), and a boss monster to be defeated for fabulous reward (troll, likely evil, but lawful evil).

As it turns out, the ability to argue about knitting can literally save a person’s life. Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (words and images by Barry Deutsch, with colors by Jake Richmond) begins with Mirka arguing about knitting, and it ends with Mirka arguing about knitting. Here’s an example of perfect symmetry in a graphic novel.

How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch