The Girl Who Drank the Moon

“Sorrow is dangerous. Memories are slippery. My grandmother does not always tell the truth. And neither do I.” 

Title: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Author: Kelly Barnhill

Published On: August 9th 2016

Published By: Algonquin Young Readers

Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade

Pages: 388
First Line: Yes. There is a witch in the wood.

Rating: 4

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Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. 

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule -- but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her -- even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.

I haven't dived into a Middle Grade book for quite some time now, but a friend of mine who's a librarian (Yes, I have a librarian friend. That's when you know you've made it big, folks) highly recommended this one to me. And as is so often the case with librarians, she was right. This book was, as the Perfectly Tiny Dragon in it states, a "joyful joyness." You read that correctly – a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Imagine, a dragon that fits in your pocket and likes to cuddle on your lap! Well, that's Fyrian for you. And he might as well be called a Perfectly Cute Dragon, because man, he made me want to pick him up and pinch his cheeks (Can you pinch a dragon's cheeks? Do they even have cheeks? I dunno, but Fyrian made me want to do it!).

If an adorable miniature dragon isn't enough of an incentive for you to read this book, then an overview of the rest of the cast might just change your mind: we've got a Swamp Monster, a Witch, a Madwoman with an army of paper birds, a talking crow, and an accidentally-turned-magic little girl who is way too energetic for her own (and her Grandmother's) good. That's quite the lineup!

This book was pure magic. It could have very well been made of starlight and moonlight itself. The writing was whimsical, with a sort of fairy-tale-esque feel to it, and is exactly the sort of book that I want to read aloud to my son one day.  I loved how it posed serious questions for the reader in sometimes silly ways: Is it okay to lie, if you only do so to protect the ones you love? How can you deal with sorrow? Why is it important to remember the past?

The characters are entertaining, engaging, and endearing. The plot cleverly brought those same seemingly unconnected characters together in surprising ways that had me laughing out loud and wondering what would happen next. Although clearly meant for readers on the younger side of the spectrum, this book is a great read for any age, especially if you are in the mood for something lighthearted, fun, and full of the fantastical.

Is it Clean?

Squeaky. There is not a single thing in this book that I would label as inappropriate.