A review by briarrose1021
How Mirka Caught a Fish by Barry Deutsch
5.0
I picked up this book specifically because it has a fish on the cover (for those of you asking why, "fish on the cover" is a square on a Middle-Grade Bingo Card I'm currently working on). As such, I did not realize this is the third book in a series of graphic novels. After reading this one, I fully intend to go back and read the first two, as there are certainly things in this one that built upon the previous novels (knitting contest against a troll comes to mind; and really, who wouldn't want to see someone engage in a knitting contest against a troll?!?!). Still, I didn't necessarily feel short-changed reading this book first.
Mirka is an eleven-year-old girl who agreed to babysit her annoying six-year-old sister, though she wasn't paying attention when she agreed to it. To say that Mirka is a bad babysitter would be an understatement, but through the course of the novel, she learns a great deal about responsibility, promises, justice, faith and love.
One of my favorite lines from the book, which comes up twice, is that if we only did things when they were easy, it would mean much. It's when we do those things when they are hard that they truly take on their full meaning.
Seeing Mirka grow over the course of this book and internalize the lessons that her step-mother was trying to teach her while also learning and accepting that no one is perfect made for a great story.
The illustrations of this story were also really good, and I look forward to reading the two earlier graphic novels - both for the story and for the illustrations.
Mirka is an eleven-year-old girl who agreed to babysit her annoying six-year-old sister, though she wasn't paying attention when she agreed to it. To say that Mirka is a bad babysitter would be an understatement, but through the course of the novel, she learns a great deal about responsibility, promises, justice, faith and love.
One of my favorite lines from the book, which comes up twice, is that if we only did things when they were easy, it would mean much. It's when we do those things when they are hard that they truly take on their full meaning.
Seeing Mirka grow over the course of this book and internalize the lessons that her step-mother was trying to teach her while also learning and accepting that no one is perfect made for a great story.
The illustrations of this story were also really good, and I look forward to reading the two earlier graphic novels - both for the story and for the illustrations.