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. Gr 4–6—Opie and her younger brother Ned travel through the Wild West to find the man who shot their mother. They begin to track a notorious criminal known as "Pa" and, along the way, meet an assortment of hardened criminals and sympathetic animals. Opie and Ned make a compelling pair. Opie is a tough survivor, while Ned's bratty behavior can't hide his loving, insightful side. The action doesn't stop: the children escape a train full of gangsters, win a horse race on a donkey, and run a criminal out of a hotel bar. Some of the scenes, easily recognizable as Wild West tropes by older readers, may be less appropriate for younger ones: the narrative opens with gambling and a bar brawl. The colorful cartoon illustrations aren't graphic, but Opie and Ned are threatened with guns multiple times. The siblings are white, and the few Native American and Mexican characters are incidental and often stereotypical. For instance, in the horse race, the children compete against "Joe Twelve Paw" and "Javieeer Ruiz." VERDICT With plucky protagonists, nonstop adventure, and slapstick humor, this tale has plenty of kid appeal, but its violence and use of stereotypes make it more appropriate for upper elementary readers.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library "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 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.