Fiction, Fantasy & YA: The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
By Kelly Barnhill

Barnhill, Kelly Regan. The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Young Readers, 2016. 9781616205676

Plot Summary

Each year, on the Day of Sacrifice, the elders of the Protectorate leave the youngest baby as an offering to the witch in the forest. Each year, Xan travels from her home in the Bog to the child, taking it to safety in the Free Cities. As she travels with the children each year, Xan feeds them starlight. One year, Xan rescues a child who ends up capturing her heart. Distracted by her love for this child, Xan accidentally feeds the child moonlight, instead of starlight. The child had become enmagicked. Xan names the child Luna and raises her as her grandaughter along with the help of Glerk, the Swamp Monster who is older than magic itself and Fyrian the Simply Enormous dragon who was truly Perfectly Tiny. As Luna grows older, her magic starts to leak out, wreaking havoc on poor Xan, who has noticed that her own magic is depleting. After casting a spell that puts Luna's magic at rest until she turns thirteen, Xan is determined to teach Luna all she knows about the world and magic. Unfortunately, the spell worked too well. At any mention of magic, Luna's eyes go black and her mind goes blank. Not to be deterred, Xan, Glerk, and Fyrian continue her education. Other story lines coincide with Luna's as she grows stronger each day. Antain, a boy from the Protectorate who grows into a man, comes to the conclusion that the only way to stop the witch from stealing children is to kill her. The story climaxes with all parties meeting together and finding a way to help each other overcome the fates that they were given.

Analysis

Kelly Barnhill has crafted a world that is delightful, mysterious, a bit scary, but full of hope. Xan, Glerk, Fyrian, Luna, and Antain have stories that are complex and full of mysteries that the reader must piece together as the characters themselves learn new information. Because of Xan's spell, Luna has gaps in her memory. Because of the trauma of leaving a child behind when he was a young boy and believing her to be dead, Antain learns to deal with his guilt and fight for the life he truly desires. Xan learns to accept the fate that she chose for herself. Each character is connected in some way, and as the story progresses, readers realize these connections. Just as information is hidden from the characters, it is hidden from the readers. This creates a mounting feeling of anticipation and makes the book difficult to put down. the theme of this story is to accept your fate and live your life full of happiness and love for others. Though your life may be full of struggles, as the people of the Protectorate struggled, they learned to feel hope again and began to thrive. This book serves as a teenage version of high fantasy. Barnhill has created a new world with fantastical story elements and characters that are sure to delight readers both young and old. Humor, despair, love, and loss are felt by the characters and the readers as they unpack this fun and fantastic story of a girl who drank the moon.

One reviewer from the Publishers Weekly said, "Via intricately woven chapters that follow Luna, her unusual family, the devious Grand Elder of the Protectorate, his honorable nephew and niece, the mysterious Sister Ignatia, and a sympathetic “madwoman” in a tower, Barnhill delivers an escalating plot filled with fore shadow ing, well-developed characters, and a fully realized setting, all highlighting her lyrical storytelling. As the characters search for family, protect secrets, and seek truth, they realize that anything can happen in the woods—when magic is involved."

“The Girl Who Drank the Moon.” 2016. Publishers Weekly 263 (49): 78. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=119832992&site=ehost-live.

Awards

John Newberry Medal

Connections

Reviewers have claimed that the audiobook for this story is very well done, so it is recommended that readers try listening to the audiobook for a change of pace.

For other fantastical coming-of-age stories:

Beatty, Robert: Serafina and the Black Cloak. 9781484709016

Milford, Kate: Greenglass House. 9780544052703

Connolly, John: The Book of Lost Things. 9780743298858