Varmints

by Andy Hirsch

Overview

Opie and Ned are adrift in the Old West, searching for the man who shot their Ma. These two youngsters only have each other, but with all their squabbling it's a miracle they still have that.

When they get wind of the mysterious Pa ("crime kingpin of the West!"), Opie and Ned suddenly have something new: a mission. But tracking down the elusive (and deadly) Pa is going to take all the wiles these two kids have, and some new friends to boot.

Clever, explosive, and deeply moving by turns, Varmints is a perfect middle-grade comedy graphic novel. Hirsch brings an old-school Western style to bear on a story full of nuance, humor, and surprises.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626729629
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	09/27/2016
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	319 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Andy Hirsch is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Dallas, Texas. The third of four children, he was born in Minnesota, migrated to Texas at a young age, and studied comics in Savannah, Georgia. He previously illustrated the graphic novel The Royal Historian of Oz, which was listed as a 2013 YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens, and has contributed to the Garfield, Regular Show, Adventure Time, and Peanuts comic book series.

Andy Hirsch is a cartoonist living in Dallas, Texas. He is the author and illustrator of several entries in First Second's Science Comics series, including Dogs: From Predator to Protector, Trees: Kings of the Forest, and Cats: Nature and Nurture.

Editorial Reviews

"In a series of set-piece chapters, Hirsh chucks the young searchers into saloon brawls, gunfights, and encounters with a massive mountain man clad in a bearskin onesie and a motherly if larcenous woman of low virtue, among other dust-ups."—Kirkus

"...kids who want to sign on for more Wild West mayhem are bound to get their wish."—BCCB

From the Publisher

2016-07-02
Two children get into one pickle after another as they search the Old West for their elusive dad.There’s never a dull moment as Opie (Calliope, but woe betide anyone who calls her that) and pesky little brother Ned chase rumors of their pa’s whereabouts—being as he’s universally feared as “the criminal king of the west,” there are plenty of rumors—while a posse of disasters rides hot at their heels. In a series of set-piece chapters, Hirsch chucks the young searchers into saloon brawls, gunfights, and encounters with a massive mountain man clad in a bearskin onesie and a motherly if larcenous woman of low virtue, among other dust-ups. Finally Opie and Ned brave a booby-trapped underground lair to confront one of Pa’s “representatives,” a lowdown snake who killed their mother. Beneath a prized coonskin cap that, according to Ned, smells “like ten butts,” Opie’s orange hair glows as brightly as her feisty spirit in the neatly squared-off cartoon panels. Horses and other livestock (plus the odd jackalope) show as much personality as any of the two-legged characters. Amid the large typecast array of white gamblers, cowpokes, Pinkerton agents, settlers, and outlaws, the author floats an occasional darker-skinned or Native American figure. Yee-haw! Pa never does show up, but there are plainly more misadventures in store before trail’s end. (Graphic Western. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews