Publisher’s Weekly on Hereville: “one of the most original and comically endearing heroines to come down the pike in a long time.”

Publisher’s Weekly has posted their starred review of Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite. (Note: some spoilers ahead, although not more than you’d get from reading the back cover.)

Eleven-year-old Mirka Herschberg is as disheveled, prickly, competitive, and impulsive as ever in this companion to Deutsch’s Hereville (2010). She’s both a fish out of water (she dreams of being a sword-wielding dragon slayer) and committed to her Orthodox Jewish faith, family, and community. All of this makes her one of the most original and comically endearing heroines to come down the pike in a long time.

The meteorite in the title is actually an alien life form—dubbed “Metty”—that becomes Mirka’s reverse doppelganger: a too-good-to-be true twin who’s not only neater, defter at dispatching bullies, and better at basketball than Mirka, but also determined to permanently displace her. With unexpectedly effective help from Mirka’s family (who are savvier and more accepting than Mirka realizes), her messy personality triumphs over perfection.

The drably handsome olive and peach palette provides visual cohesion—an anchor that allows Deutsch’s extravagantly chronicled emotions to fly high—while simultaneously making the story’s extraterrestrial elements and scenes (colored in bold yellows and blues) all the more magical and alien by contrast.

Information about buying Hereville books can be found here.

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4 Responses to Publisher’s Weekly on Hereville: “one of the most original and comically endearing heroines to come down the pike in a long time.”

  1. 1
    Emily says:

    I bought your books for my god sister’s 11 year old daughter. I haven’t heard back yet with a review but she was already reading it before the party ended.

  2. 2
    chingona says:

    I bought this for my kids for Hanukkah, and we all like it very much – maybe even better than the first one. Nice work.

  3. 4
    chomiji says:

    Got my niece both volumes for Hanukah. My sister reports that she has read them each several times. My sister would like to read them too, but my niece is not letting them out of her room yet!