The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
Recommended for ages 10 and up
Newbery Medal winner 2017
I do appreciate and enjoy a good fairy tale, and this book is a wonderful one. I found the originality so engaging, for example the magic being fed to the babies from the starlight and the moonlight.
I will say I think the target audience is definitely older than the 10 years in the book's description. More along the lines of 12 and older. Absolutely a good adult read too. The reason for recommending an older audience is content and length.
The book opens with a disturbing sequence, which is common in fairy tales, but disturbing nonetheless. A baby is taken from her parents and left in the woods as a sacrifice to the witch to keep the rest of the Protectorate safe. Thankfully you find out right away that a good witch rescues the baby and raises her with a great deal of love. The elders in control of the Protectorate perpetuate the falsehood of the community needing to sacrifice the youngest child each year. And, the book alternates between you learning more about what is going on in the town and the child growing up in the company of the good witch, a dragonling and a bog monster.
This book is about so much. On the surface, it is a coming of age fairy tale. Yet, it is so much more, it has many levels, and deals with the connection between parents and their children, birth children or adopted children. Family, blood relations or the family we choose for ourselves. Hope and sorrow, difficult truths and love.
I hope if like me you gravitate towards fairy tales and the lessons they teach, you will pick up this book and step into another world for a little while. The Girl Who Drank the Moon is available as an ebook and as an audiobook via RBDigital and in print at Walnut Grove Public Library. NF
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