The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Ten stars. Twenty stars. A hundred stars. I LOVED this story. I loved everything about it. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, from children to adults. I don\’t usually reread books, but I know I will return to this story again and again. This story had everything you could want in a GREAT fairytale. The characters in this story were multifaceted and endearing. The storyline was well thought out with a satisfying conclusion. I wouldn\’t change anything in this story. As an avid reader, I have only encountered this in a tiny handful of books. Such a rare treat to read! There were plenty of plot twists and turns. A thread of dark mystery was carefully woven into the story. And yet, there is love, so much love in this book as well. Not the sappy artificial love seen in romance novels, but the love of family and friends. This book would make a fabulous gift, especially to Harry Potter fans. This book has a similar feel to it. In fact, I think I liked it even better, and that\’s saying a LOT. So many emotions in this book! Warm and fuzzy with a hint of sadness but uplifting too! Grownups will NOT feel like they are reading a children\’s story, and yet I would feel comfortable reading this book to a young child. Again, a rare story to be sure. I will seek out more books by this author.

For the first time I hesitated rating a book and slept on it overnight before reviewing it. So many people love this book, and it\’s won some awards, so I kept thinking, \”What am I missing?\” Is THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON whimsical? Absolutely. Are there some beautifully written parts? Most certainly. Does the story have a lovely moral? It does indeed. But it\’s also overwritten, often nonsensical, with thinly drawn characters, and totally predictable. I also noticed even the people who liked it complained that it was slow in parts, especially in the middle, and in my opinion that\’s because it\’s a ten-page plot stretched to 400 pages through the use of flowery, redundant language. So why has it won so many awards? For the same reason summer blockbuster movies that are long on special effects and short on plot are so popular–people mistake sizzle for steak. Please understand: I didn\’t hate this book. I applaud its message and the occasional beauty of its writing. And I LOVE fantasy stories. But this should have been a short story. Not to mention that its basic plot–a witch raising a girl with special powers–has been done before, and done so much better. Have you read Terry Pratchett\’s EQUAL RITES? If you haven\’t, give yourself a treat and do so. It\’s funny and fun, with amazing characters, and a well-drawn plot–and it was written long before THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON. So would I recommend THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON? Sure, why not. It won\’t hurt you, and there are some very nice parts. Yes, the animism is a bit overdone, but it is a fantasy after all, and animism seems to be a staple of \”witch\” books, harking back to their Druid ancestry. Besides, everyone\’s taste is different–that\’s what makes life fun!–and you could very well love it.

What a wonderful book. But you\’ve already read the professional reviews and you don\’t need me to tell you that. What I can tell you is that my daughter is 8, and I can\’t see her either benefiting from or wanting to read this book/have it read to her for at least another two years. The main action of this story happens when a girl is twelve/thirteen, when most girls physically change into adults. This book is for those girls, and absolutely should be read by every one of them. The book is interwoven with rising tension throughout the story. A sensitive young girl is likely to be too worried about what will happen to actually want to read it. In the end there is no physical violence, but emotional tension runs very high. By the time the confrontations happen you (the adult reader) are begging for them to happen. Begging for all the problems laid out to be resolved, but the young reader? Heck, my daughter freaked out the first time Moana went into the ocean (and only then). Like \”The Witch\’s Boy\” (by same author) there are disturbing scenes–here especially early in the book. On an emotional level, fairly devastating. There are also things that she might just not be ready to understand until that age. For example the two main heroines are wrapped up in a pattern of lying to each other–for all the best reasons. As an adult I understand and learned from this. But for an 8 year old? Heck, it is probably too subtle for a normal 10 year old. You should notice I have pitched this almost absolutely for young girls. Not to say that boys won\’t like it–exciting story it be–but it is absolutely for that target audience. Get it for your son as well; he\’ll understand a lot more about women when he\’s done with it. Adult readers? You should all read it. Now. It is a pitch perfect classic.

I (48 year old but youthful librarian) have just finished reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon and found it an absolutely fabulous and inventive, but also complex, abstract and demanding read. I\’m quite amazed that this book is recommended for the age group 9-12 years because it is really rather sophisticated. The author uses beautiful language and carefully chosen words. Just as an aside: the cover illustration by Yuta Onoda is simply stunning and, yes, quite magical.

◾ ▫ ◾ Hello my book witches! To forget about reality for a while, I bring you The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. This is a light middle-grade fantasy with witches, magic, tiny dragons and swamp monsters. I absolutely leafed through the pages like a hungry reader thirsting for more. It\’s a simple and enchanting fairytale that kept me quietly chuckling to myself, while I was lost under waves of various emotions. A small Protectorate town sits nestled near a volcanic peak, encircled by dense dark forests. The townsfolk believes a Witch lives in the forest who\’ll harm them all, if a baby isn\’t sacrificed each year. So they leave the youngest child of the Protectorate, in the forest, as an offering to the Witch. But the witch, Xan, doesn\’t understand why these people abandoned one of their own in the forest each year. So she took care of them, travelled far to place them in the arms of another loving family who wanted them. But one time, the kind witch fed a child moonlight, instead of starlight. And the child grew up enmagicked, as her granddaughter, Luna. I loved the tiny dragon Fyrian, and the swamp monster Glerk who lived with Xan and Luna. Luna being an enmagicked child, couldn\’t understand her powers and Xan had to lock away the magic inside of Luna by binding it to her own. Luna\’s magic will return when she turns thirteen. This also meant Xan will die when Luna\’s magic comes back. There\’s multiple point of views in the narration and that added to the story immensely, making it very compelling for a fantasy read. And the writing was so flowing and almost poetic that I couldn\’t help but fall in love with this book. – Anshula @thebookishlawyer (Instagram id)

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