The Girl Who Drank the Moon (Winner of the 2017 Newbery Medal)

I read this book in 2021, but it haunts me still almost 5 years on, in all its beautiful imagery and the mystical plot that Kelly Barnhill weaves so magically with her captivating writing. There are genuinely people in this world, who feed off the misery of others. It is these parallels that you can draw from fantasy to reality that make this a standout novel. I loved every word. From the very first chapter and the allegorical writing style, I was amazed at how quickly I sank into the world she created. I still feel that pace of urgency and movement, which is something so powerful and difficult to dramatise in literature. The carrying of “weight” or burden on one’s back or in one’s arms. The heavy duty of love and protecting something vulnerable from harm. The unexpected love as an unforeseen result of humanity and being a moral person. The meeting of all the characters at the climactic end when all is revealed and undone. It’s mesmerising and I cannot urge you enough to read this book. You will be as magnetised towards it as I was and I am about to read it again now as the Thanksgiving Holidays draw nearer. I couldn’t put this down, I completed this book within 48hrs and the delay was only because I had to sleep and take care of my newborn at the time! He is now 5yrs old and I have a second who is 16months. Let’s hope I will have some time to myself to enjoy this book once more and relish the writing again!

The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a beautifully written fantasy full of magic, heart, and unforgettable characters. The story is enchanting and imaginative, with emotional depth that appeals to both young readers and adults. I loved the rich world‑building and the way the plot weaves together hope, courage, and kindness a truly magical read!

Love love love this book! It was recommended after a library event we attended and it has been a blast for the whole family to read together(of all ages). Imaginative and fun, yet also gives the opportunity to talk about important learning lessons. Can’t recommend this one enough and I know it will be one we read together again and again

What do an old witch, a magical baby and a fearful society all have in common? A thread of magic that connects them all through different perspectives. Kelly Barnhill’s The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a great young adult fantasy novel that demonstrates how magic comes in many different forms and is viewed in many different ways. One of the main characters, Xan, the old witch in the wood, who is mystical as most witches are, is filled with ancient power. She’s always been magic, infused with it centuries ago. Xan is basically a kind old individual trying to use her magic as beneficially as she can. However, the Protectorate doesn’t see her that way. Being the city on the outside of the wood, they have reason to be cautious of the dangers in the forest. Their solution is to sacrifice a baby to the witch every year so she doesn't destroy them. The day of sacrifice is a yearly ceremony to keep the witch in the wood pleased. The Protectorate has fear of magical destruction. However mothers go mad when their children are to be taken away and left in the woods. In fact, sorrow and madness follow any mention of magic In the Protectorate. Something marvelous can come from all of this sorrow and fear, though. Luna, a sacrificed child, is a fount of young beautiful magic. Xan took Luna as she does all babies but was so in awe of Luna’s beauty that Xan accidentally feeds her moonlight instead of starlight. As a result, Luna has a crack of blue and silver magic in her mind, waiting for the floods and waves to come crashing upon her shores to unleash her own magic. When this happens, this child becomes so whimsical that flowers sprout from each of her footsteps. Luna shows readers that you can have magic in you and can use it every day without even knowing about it. You can think magic is one thing but the perspectives of a witch trying her best, a supernatural baby, and a dreadful community show how much variety magic can contain. And they are only part of the creative world in this book. We also meet a madwoman, a scar-faced boy, a swamp monster, and a small dragon. I’d give this novel four out of five stars. I am not a huge fantasy fan but this book drew me into its fantastical world. Perhaps you’ll find yourself like me, getting lost in the world of magic, unable to put it down! Written by Jenna M. 8th grader

I am so embarrassed. A Newbery award winner, in our library collection, and I had not read it until I downloaded the ebook from Amazon on a special for $1.99. Now I know what all the excitement is about. This is an award winner that deserves every plaudit it receives. This is a book that could easily be part of an adult collection, reminding me of T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" and the stories of Philip Pullman or even the Stephen Sondheim play, "Into the Woods." For as we all know, a great fantasy has no age restriction; it is ageless, just as it is timeless. The bare outline of the story is a tale of the yearly offering of the youngest baby of the community known as The Protectorate to the Witch of the Woods. The Council of Elders enforces this sacrifice for the safety of the population, but the reader soon learns it is the Council that has come up with this scheme to keep the people subjugated, In fact the witch each year rescues the abandoned child and finds a home for him or her in the free cities far away. One year, however, instead of placing the baby with a family, she takes the baby to be her own and accidentally suffuses her with moonlight which transforms into powerful magic. She than attempts to protect the child from the power of her magic by creating a spell to keep it hidden til her thirteenth birthday. The whole book is a study of magic in all its forms and purposes, both conscious and unconscious, but more importantly, the book itself is magic. Listen, for example, to this little throw-away paragraph about the unexpected behavior of papers that appeared in a tower room with no explanation: "Apologies," the papers murmured. They scattered and gathered; they swirled into great whirlwinds; they undulated across the room in waves. This paragraph begs to be read aloud like the poetry it is. The whole book is a perfect read-aloud, with wonderful titles at the beginning of each chapter and lovely cliff-hangers at the end. But the story is more than an evening's entertainment. It is a clarion call for open access to knowledge, for as Barnhill writes, "Knowledge is powerful, but it is a terrible power when it is hoarded and hidden." So I have told you of the beauty of the writing and the power of the book's message, but I haven't yet told you what a wonderful story it is with characters that will hold your attention from the first time you meet them til they finally leave the stage. This book has already received so many 5 star reviews, I would be surprised if you have read my offering to this point, but I am writing not so much for you who might read this, but for me to place as a tribute to this author and her perfect story.

At the San Francisco Writer’s Conference 2017, I heard this book repeatedly recommended by the agent Mary C Moore whenever discussing middle grade fantasy. After the conference, I put it on my reading list. In the past, I had the opinion that the best books are children’s books: an opinion that had faded of late. This book reaffirmed that faded opinion. The first thing that struck me was the writing. It’s frequently said, of course, that every line must serve a purpose, drawing the reader in. Yet I can’t remember the last time I read a book that executed that theory so well as this one did. From the start, the characters and their conflicts are crystal clear; and with a baby being sacrificed to a witch that the Elders know does not exist, the stakes are high. I only felt the story slow down as the writing took time with characterization in chapter two, when we meet said non-existant witch and her magical companions. The second thing that struck me was the diverse age range of our cast of characters. There is the elderly witch; the child that she adopts; the teen-turned-young-man that defies the culture of sorrow of the town in which he was born and raised; and the middle-aged woman who lost her daughter. Each of these characters is confronted with problems of their age. The child wants to find out who she is. The young man learns to push past his mother’s expectations to find a vocation he loves and the love of his life. The middle-aged woman has lost sight of the young woman she used to be in the face of the soul-rending grief of losing a child. The elderly witch is faced with her own mortality. I was also struck with admiration by the time course of this book, which takes place over the course of thirteen years. Of course, there are many stories that do this: Harry Potter and In Malice, Quite Close are only a few examples of books that begin with a set up a decade or more before the meat of the story begins. However, I am accustomed to such stories dedicating only a chapter or two to the set-up before diving into the main meat of the story. This is not so in The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Here, we are nearly half way through the book before we hit the “present,” or the meat of the story. Yet the first half of the book—covering nearly 12 years in the lives of several characters—felt neither tediously lengthy nor overly rushed. Barnhill doesn’t necessarily elaborate at length about her characters or her world. Yet she chooses her words with exceptional skill, weaving a simple world infused with depth to the reader who cares to look beneath the surface. This, I thought as I read, is what truly makes a children’s book ageless: a story so simple that children can enjoy it, but infused with so much depth and complexity that it can be meaningful at any age. The foremost theme from the onset of this book is Sorrow. The people of the town live their lives buried in sorrow and grief; meanwhile, the witch does not allow herself to feel sorrow. In the book, of course, there is a supernatural reason behind this. Taken at face value, one might interpret the story as a manifesto against the human tendency to sink into sorrow or grief. However, I don’t choose to see it that way. At the end of the book, sorrow has ceased to be a liability as it was in the past. The town is no longer perpetually sunken into grief, but nor is there a need to prevent oneself from feeling sorrow for the sake of self-preservation. I choose to see the theme as demonstrating the futility of either extreme: for while they do not wallow, there is still sorrow in the end, though it is presented in a form more complex than any previous form. The world and the story, though original, had a familiar feel to them that made them highly accessible and an easy read, but nevertheless one that made me think. I highly recommend this book.

Juvenile fiction is shaping up to be one of my favorite genres to read. I've read some amazing stories & I don't have to worry about sexual content or cursing that young adult fiction sometimes has. "She is here. She is here. She is here." The narrator does an amazing job of giving each character their own unique voice. The main villain uses gaslighting, manipulation to inflict sorrow over the town. The townsfolk never question it & believe their sorrow is for the greater good. I thought the villain was beautifully written. The villain reminds me of Mother Gothel, from the movie Tangled or Claude Frollo, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. "She was ready to be many things at once child, grown up, poet, engineer, botanist, dragon the list went on." Luna, one of the pov's we follow is the most entertaining one. Together this make shift little family figure out the world together. Luna, Fyrian, Glerk, the poet, & Xan help brighten the book from all the sorrow the clouds the other pov's. My favorite character is Fyrian, so much cheerfulness in such a little body. "Who could possibly trick me? Nobody has told me anything, but the truth in my whole life. Isn't that right?" Oh naive little 500 year old dragon, you are too cute for your own good. "Everything is for Luna. It was true, she loved that girl with every ache in her back. She loved her with every hacking cough. She loved her with every aromatic sigh. She loved her with every crack in her joints. There was nothing she would not endure for that girl." Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good romantic love story. There is something that makes you smile & feel good about the love family has for one another. This is what more young adult books need. The love between children & their parents or in this case grandmothers.

*Published on Mundie Moms on 4/28/2018** *More like 4.5 stars* This story took me completely by surprise. I'm not sure what I was expecting maybe a less of a whimsical fantasy, but what I read reminded me so much of Victoria Schwab's first book, The Near Witch. It had an almost Neil Gaimain-like twist on a dark fairy tale environment. I wasn't expecting the depth of world-building or the bittersweetness of the storytelling. And as yes, I enjoyed every page of this surprising story. First, let me just say -- THERE ARE DRAGONS. Okay, a perfectly tiny dragon. And a witch in the forest, who rescues babies that are left there because of an arcane ritual. The reason behind this ritual twists all around the story and you do find out the whys and hows it developed, but talking about it would be such a huge spoiler that I won't mention it further. The most beautiful part was the story of Xan and Luna. The way their relationship develops into a grandmother and child relationship that is tinged with an inevitable sadness. It made me think of my own grandmother and how she passed on her bits of wisdom through stories that were sometimes fantastical and sometimes hilarious, but always had a point to them. The folklore feeling to the world is one that is described in such lyrical terms that you will find yourself easily lost in the phrasing and word choices. The characters, too, while recognizable, will surprise you with a few well placed twists in their character arcs. There were moments in the plot that seemed to lose a little momentum, but the tension was always there, and it stretched easily through the conclusion. My curiosity simply wouldn't let me be as I more questions popped into my head as the story progressed. I think that every well-told story has that same trait. The audiobook narrator was well chosen. She had a lovely, almost grandmotherly tone that suited the story so well. The narrator, Christina Moore, also narrates a number of mysteries as well as the Beverly Cleary collection. She was well cast and acted out the characters beautifully. If you have a midde-grader who enjoys fantasy settings and a story that has echoes of classic fairy tales, you must read The Girl Who Drank the Moon with them. This is one story that should make all the Summer Reading Lists.

I bought this book for my 5-year-old, but ended up getting really engrossed in it. It is a multi-layered story, and at the very surface, it challenges the old notions (that all witches, sorcery and extra-natural abilities are evil and must be destroyed). The characters are simple enough for a child, but the meanings will change for the reader when they get older... there is love, loss, heroism, and upending of the usual myths e.g. monsters are killers. In fact, I think I caught a bit of irony in that the portrayal of the true villain is that of someone who appears to be a member of a religious order. It could easily be said to be a criticism of modern-day religions, especially those that focus on sinfulness and sorrow. It is a thinking book, written for thinkers and would-be thinkers because it challenges the common view of mythological creatures and of institutions that people sometimes revere too much. Pick it up... really worth the read.

buen libro para los niños

Un bellissimo titolo da prendere alla lettera (ironico il tentativo della traduzione italiana di renderlo più ultraterreno) e poi una storia di perdite e ricongiungimenti, amore filiale e la lotta fra il bene e il male spesso celati sotto false sembianze nel governo della città. "...there surely wasn't a witch. ...The belief in her-made for frightened people" (pagina 12) -è un esempio delle varie occasioni che la scrittrice dà di trovare una chiave di lettura del contemporaneo in questo fantasy per ragazzi. In generale il livello di inglese come seconda lingua è fra B1 e B2 ma col dizionario alla mano: a gnarled tree; a smothered flame; guffaws.

One of my very favorite books. Highly recommend for kids 11+ and adults.

I highly recomend it, very nice story