Hereville How Mirka Got Her Sword

Hereville
How Mirka Got Her Sword
By Barry Deutsch

One sees a tag line of a book that says 'Yet another Troll-fighting 11-year old Orthodox Jewish Girl' and do you think there is anything else that one would like to do apart from reading the book. Well, at least for me - that is what I did. Especially when it is a graphic novel. I stopped everything else and read the book.

Mirka is a spirited girl who prefers to slay dragons instead of girly things like knitting. Mirka hates all girly things and wants to get hold of a sword to fight dragons. In order to get her sword she has to fight not only a talking pig, a witch and the troll that loves knitting; she has to handle her elder sister who wants to teach her how to behave so that she can marry, her irritating younger sister and an younger brother who thinks only men can slay dragons (but, nevertheless accompanies her in all her adventures). But, the most important impediment as well as her supporter - her step mom, Fruma. 

Most folk tales show step-moms as evil beings with long noses. The long nose part is a bit mysterious - why should evil folks have long noses? Anyway, Fruma is a step-mom with a long nose and when she is introduced in the book almost along with Mirka, I thought - "Oh! my God!. Not another villainous step mom.We have enough of them in Indian tales and television serials".  But, here is where Barry Deustsch spins a nice little twist on the step-mom trope. Although she has a long nose and looks like evil-ly, she has her own agenda on how to bring up kids. She argues with them from both sides of the argument. If the kid says 'I am going to slay dragons', she would argue back - 'Nature created all beings, so do you want to unnecessarily slay a dragon' and so on.. and as soon as the kid accepts the argument and says 'Ok. I will not go and hunt dragons'; she will switch and say - 'So, if the dragons come and kill all of us in the village, would you not be ready to fight for us?'. Although the rest of the kids have learnt enough to not argue with Fruma, our spunky, little Mirka never hesitates to get into another argument with her. Some of the best parts of the book are arguments that Mirka and Fruma get into. 

Another lovely aspect of the book is the setting. The book is set in an orthodox Jewish village. Through Mirka and her family we learn about the orthodox Jewish customs, their dress, their festivals, their cooking and the family values. There is an interesting episode where a group of these Jewish kids see an animal that tries to attack Mirka. She thinks it is a monster and tries to search for it in her carefully-hidden-from-parents monster book. Finally, she realizes through her sister (who had been outside her orthodox village) that the monster is nothing but a pig! I look forward for the next book where Mirka might see a crab. 

I am not sure whom I like better - Barry Deutsch - the Illustrator or Barry Deustch - the Story Teller. Along with a wonderful story, the illustrations are amazing. There is a comic touch to all his illustrations. I got this book as a birthday gift from the kids and spouse. A lovely way to spend the birthday reading about Mirka and imagining if my daughter is turning out to be a Mirka. When I asked Sooraj how he liked the book - he had one word - 'Awesome!'.  Ranjani did not like the ending and thought it was a tad sudden and lacked the panache for such a wonderful story. But, for a person who shuns graphic novels and comic books, Ranjani read the entire book without taking a break and enjoyed it immensely. 

India- A to Z- An alphabetical tour of Incredible India

 

Authors: Vidya Mani & Veena Seshadri
Cartoons-  Greystroke ( Shyam Madhavan Sarada)
Illustrations- Sony Bhaskaran

Here is book from Puffin that is a refreshing insight into India with its rich culture, science, maths, natural bounty. A kid (and adult) friendly book full of facts and trivia presented in an unusual manner and organized alphabetically by Vidya and Veena. For instance,  M is dedicated to music , monuments, monsoon and monsters, B stands for beaches and bazaars , Bollywood and Buddha and even the Bhopal Gas tragedy.

The book is enlivened by witty and fun comic strip style observations by Greystroke.
Photos have been gathered from various sources to lend colour

Here we are in conversation with Vidya, the co-author of the book:

ST- After very factual, serious books on India, this was a refreshing take on facts- how did the idea come about?
Vidya- The idea was Puffin's. The Puffin editor Sohini Mitra said they wanted a buzzy and bright fact book on India that was done alphabetically. What we agreed upon mutually was that we would not stick to doing mere facts. Since we had a page or two to every topic we were writing on, facts have been fleshed out into stories, trivia tidbits and incredible info segments, all of which offer the reader a good perspective of the topic being written about. The idea to lighten up the book and give readers lots of 'haa haa's' was ours and that was because we have a wonderful cartoonist inhouse. Also, we've always believed that there's nothing like a good laugh to make gyan more appealing and accessible!

Would you like to nominate a companion book to this one ?
I think Puffin's 'Let's Go Time Travelling through India' and Tulika's 'Little Indians' would come closer primarily because ours is not a mere fact book.

The comics, the titles- how did they evolve?

Completely out of our heads! Right from the start we decided that everything about the book would be quirky and catchy because that helps get young readers interested. So the headers to most trivia segments are alliterative, the book's subtitle (An Alphabetical Tour of Incredible India) is jolly and inviting and the writing is peppered with humour. The cartoons are of course the magical part of the book! They were all mostly Greystroke's ideas, but, in some instances, if a good line came up when Veena and I were writing, we'd put it in as a cartoon suggestion.

 
There is a mix of India and generic alphabet related stuff - how did you prune and arrive at which ones to take forward?

That was the hardest part and took quite a while. Veena and I made a L-O-N-G master list of generic topics that needed to be covered in the book. For instance, places, festivals, markets, environment, science, crafts, personalities and suchlike. Plus, we also wanted something in from every state and union territory of India. So what we tried to ensure in the final alphabet list was that every generic topic and every region got covered in some way. Basically we wanted the book to have something in it for everyone. Puffin's editors worked closely with us to ensure we got an interesting mix in place.

Did you travel more to see any of these places, did you meet /speak to interesting people while adding info?

Wish children's book budgets would make that possible! We certainly did a lot of armchair travelling and zooming up and down the information highway!

However, facts have a marvellous way of popping up out of somewhere, anywhere unexpectedly. In fact, wherever I travelled personally during that period, I could only see facts in front of my eyes! I mean it, I would read inscriptions at monuments and museums, craft catalogues, highway signs at toll plazas, tourist brochures and even application forms with such attention that my family started to joke that it was better we added an extra day or two to every holiday plan! For someone who rarely takes photos on a mobile phone, mine soon ran out of space because it was filled with photographs of plaques, inscriptions, signages and book extracts which I thought would be helpful in the writing. So yes, our personal travels did contribute many interesting facts to the book.

Since all of us have been putting together children's magazines for many years now, we also had access to people we had interviewed across the years - environmentalists, scientists, historians, travel writers - and it was possible to call them to verify whether some information was right or wrong.

How were facts verified- what kind of research went into the book?

Painstakingly! We scoured books, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, diaries, government bulletins, reliable/official websites and travel/photo blogs for information. Every fact was checked and rechecked from many sources. You are aware that it is very hard to get definite statistics and facts on India, so wherever we could not get them verified from at least two reliable sources, we took care not to put it into the book.

Any anecdotes?
Right through the time we were working on the book, we'd keep track of which segment each one of us was working on. And since we were so steeped in what we were researching or writing or illustrating, after a while, it became common for to say, "I am in Varanasi today. Where are you?" And this, while we were sitting in adjacent rooms in our office in Bangalore!

What do you think is the relevance of the book in the era of wikipedia and google baba?

Generally speaking, the information on Wikipedia or any other website is only a starting point. It is not something you can or should rely on with certainty. Besides, the information is not really written for children. India: A to Z is... written for children, I mean. It can be used for project ideas, to boost general knowledge, as a ready reference and even simply for the pleasure of reading and discovery. So, if all you're looking for is a bland fact, Wiki or Google or any website will give it to you. But if you're looking for an alphabetical tour of Incredible India, India: A to Z is your book!

And going by the 8 year old at home, it is likely to be a sure hit with kids!

Here's another review of the same book by the Mad Momma.

India A to Z: An alphabetical tour of Incredible India

India A to Z: An Alphabetical Tour of Incredible India
Authors: Veena Seshadri and Vidya Mani
Illustrations: Sony Bhaskaran
Cartoons: Greystroke
Publisher: Puffin

The name says it all - it is an alphabetical tour of India. So A is for Aryabhatta, a tidbit that most kids don't pick up until fairly late in life, but A is also for Aadhar Card. C for Constitution, D for the famous Dabbas of Bombay, L for the famous Lakes of India, H for hindustani music and gharanas.
A very comprehensive book, it is packed to the gills with information as diverse as seasons, fairs, history (Jallianwala Bagh, anyone?) space travel, mythology, geography and art.


Snippy little passages of a couple of hundred words, introducing you to each concept, and then skipping on to the next. Should a child find something particularly interesting, you can help them look up more from other sources. My kids have enjoyed sticking a finger into a random page and seeing what they come up with, rather than reading it alphabetically. A list of topics in the contents makes it easy to hunt things down.

However, the same delightful randomness that makes it interesting, also makes it a little erratic. One wonders on what basis the topics were chosen, because a couple of them are rather banal. For instance, with the current controversy around Aadhar, will a number of the topics continue to be relevant? While they've tried to go wide, there is a definite leaning towards Hinduism, from teaching the pronunciation of Om, to mythological references galore.

Bright and simple illustrations keep it interesting. A great gift to kids who don't get to travel much, or who love trivia and to desi kids abroad as a peek into the contradiction that is our country.