HOW MIRKA CAUGHT A FISH

After previously battling a troll and then a meteorite, fearless, stubborn Mirka returns for a third outing, this time to save her family from a vengeful magical fish.

Rather than battling monsters, precocious Mirka, a young Orthodox Jewish girl living in a large blended family, is told that she must spend a day babysitting her stepsister Layele. Determined to eke out some excitement, Mirka takes her charge into the woods that, only moments earlier, her stepmother, Fruma, had warned her about. In the woods, Mirka and Layele encounter her old opponent, the troll, who gives Mirka a hairband that allows her to see the past. With it, she learns that Fruma had made a deal with a very tricky, wish-granting fish but left her trapped in a lake for eternity. Naturally, the girls happen upon the fish, and she tricks young Layele into bringing her home, determined to exact her revenge upon Fruma. This time, Mirka must fight a battle without weapons and confront the vindictive fish with new weapons: kindness and logic. Deutsch has created a wonderfully inventive world in which fantastic creatures believably reside alongside a religious community; Mirka is a delightfully flawed heroine that nearly anyone can relate to and enjoy. Backgrounder Wallace and colorist Richmond augment Deutsch’s busy panels, providing a pleasingly earth-toned setting for Mirka’s latest adventure.

This consistently clever and thoughtful series hasn’t lost a particle of momentum.