Mirka’s life as a Hasidic Jew is a fundamental part of her character, but no superfluous attention is called to her religion.

“I definitely don’t want to write a textbook, but painlessly without lecturing people, give readers the impression of how Mirka’s life feels to Mirka,” Deutsch explained.

One of the most effective ways he accomplishes this is with the inclusion of Shabbat in the story.
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Immediately after being charged with her quest, rather than set out, Mirka rushes home to celebrate Shabbat. For the next nine pages the action of the book is completely halted and the Sabbath is observed; its traditions described in detail. “The reason I have the story line pretty much stop dead and then pick up like snap when Shabbos is over,” Deutsch explained, “is because you’re supposed to put away your weekday concerns and not let them interfere with Shabbos, and I thought it was the most direct way of communicating that to the reader.”

“It’s a break from the other things going on and hopefully a really joyful break because of how special Shabbos time is to Mirka.”

Mirka’s sense of religious duty and the joy she takes in it, combined with her adventure-seeking personality, makes her a compelling character in children’s literature.

The catch line on “Hereville”’s cover reads, “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl.” Though meant to be tongue-in-cheek, in many ways Deutsch’s character is just that.

By normalizing the rhythm and values of Jewish life, rather than singling them out as a topic for discussion, he manages to make Mirka just another adventure seeking pre-teen … who just so happens to be Jewish.

Read the whole article here.

Many thanks to Laurie Kamens, the author of the article, who was a delight to talk to.

It’s hard for me to feel bad about this, though. For one thing, Keeper sounds like a terrific book (and I intend to read it). For another, Hereville was one of only 16 books published in 2010 — out of the tens of thousands of kids books published in a year — to be selected to participate in the Battle at all.

And finally, the judge for this round, Susan Patron, had this to say about Hereville:

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, a graphic novel by Barry Deutsch, must be the only book ever whose outside front cover made me laugh. “Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11-Year-Old Orthodox Jewish Girl,” it proclaims. Thick, shiny, paper painted in shades of coral, brown, black and white—changing to deep purples and grays in the scary night scenes—feel silky to the touch. Every page is vibrant with energetic pictures, dialogue, sound effects—and extremely minimal exposition.

The story plays with genres, tilting them on their sides; using incongruity, it skewers conventions. Seemingly we are in the middle of a Hansel and Gretel pastiche, a fairy tale, in which the characters sprinkle their dialogue with Yiddish words, “A klog iz mir: Woe is me!” as well as expressions like “Yaaaah!” ”Mumph!” and “Aaak!” Mirka, one daughter in a large family of sibs and step-sibs, rebels against the traditional role expected of her in the Orthodox Jewish community of Hereville. Rather than learning such “womanly arts” as knitting, she wants to fight dragons. There is lots of very clever stuff here: visual jokes such as an illustration contained within an exclamation point, table legs morphing into trees, and a deliciously horrid troll.

Wit and irony also abound in the text: a monster pig eats Mirka’s homework, Mirka and her clever, loving stepmother engage in wonderfully funny debates, and some Orthodox traditions are gently poked fun at (“preparing for all that non-working [on Shabbos] takes a lot of work!” and “In Hereville, kids aren’t allowed to have non-Jewish books. So Mirka keeps hers hidden”). I was hugely entertained, even as one tender scene brought tears to my eyes.

How can I possibly feel bad about that?

(Info about purchasing Hereville can be found here.)

Seriously, I enjoyed their discussion and thought they had some good observations.

Two things I thought were neat about Alyssa’s review:

1) The Sondheim reference (I’m a huge Sondheim fanboy).

2) That she didn’t even mention that it’s in comics! The review is all about the story.

This is the article Bob Smietana of the Religion News Service wrote. Very cool!

Here’s a bit from the article:

Ten-year-old Shira Acklin from the Temple, a Reform Jewish congregation in Nashville, agrees. She’s a fan of the Harry Potter books, and is also a big fan of Mirka.

“I like that the girl is the star — her brother is there but he’s not the star. She is,” Acklin said.

Adventure stories like Mirka’s are rare among Jewish kids’ books, said Heidi Estrin, library director at Congregation B’nai Israel, in Boca Raton, Fla.

Many Jewish books for kids focus on serious topics, like anti-Semitism, or teaching religious topics. If the books include humor, said Estrin, it’s often aimed at parents, not kids.

Not so with Hereville.

“It’s lighthearted in a way that kids can relate to,” said Estrin, who runs The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish books. “The plot had nothing to do with prejudice — it’s about a girl who wants to fight dragons.”

Read the rest at Huffpo. Thanks, Bob!

(Oh, and if you’re interested in buying a copy of Hereville, the info is here.)

P.S. Check out the comments for a mini-debate between about if an atheist should be writing a religious protagonist.

The characters are simple, dot eyes and line noses, but always in motion, always expressing something with their arms and faces. Deutsch’s work is a little stiff when it comes to the most active sequences — when one person chases another early on, they look like they’re speed-walking instead of running after each other — but the real meat of the story is in moments, often conversational.

The story-telling is simple and straightforward, so as not to get in the way of the reader taking in the details of Mirka’s life and dreams. (Although at various important moments, the panel grid changes to highlight the mood or emphasize particular visuals.) The challenge comes in the language, with Yiddish words used frequently and translated at the bottom of the page. It adds to the fable-like feeling, with words unfamiliar to many readers providing an exotic overlay.

I’m still a bit uncomfortable with aspects of Mirka’s life — the way the kids are separated boys and girls at school, the importance of the family reputation so the girls’ parents can find them a good husband — but in personality, she’s full of imagination and she’s fearless. She stands up to bullies, even if she has to hide her actions from those who think it’s not suitable for a girl to do. I hope those qualities aren’t drummed out of her as she grows older. That we see women with strong minds who value intelligence (of all kinds) gives hope.

Read the whole review here. Thanks, Johanna!

Everything I knew previously about Orthodox Judaism I learned from Chaim Potok, so I felt reasonably well-armed to absorb any cultural differences which I might encounter in the reading. But truthfully, no previous knowledge is necessary to enjoy the book, and not just because Mirka is a feisty, headstrong girl, and feisty, headstrong girls are a staple of childrens’ literature whatever the culture. Let us not underestimate the importance of Mirka’s heritage–this story works so well because she is an Orthodox Jewish girl. But while this book provides a window on Orthodox Jewish life, that’s not what it is about. Nor, despite some angsty moments, is it about a tween trying to break free from a life that everyone but an Orthodox Jew would find unusual. You could call it an adventure book because there is lots of adventure–fast-paced, hair-raising, breath-taking adventure–contained in these pages. Then again, it is also a family drama, as readers meet Mirka and her rather large blended family. Witches, trolls, and dragons are discussed with a completely straight face, so in some ways the book is a fantasy. And last, but not least, it is FUNNY!

Thanks, Kara!

Visit Not Just For Kids to read the rest.