The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

This book is probably best suited to 10 to 12-year-olds. So if you like magic, suspense and surprise then this a great book for you. This book filled me with a little bit of magic and is an all-time favourite. The heroes and heroines are resilient, empathetic and show the importance of family and friends. The characters are not perfect and that is what makes them relatable. I enjoyed this book as it is beautifully written and explores the meaning of memory hope, love and emotion. But what happens when Luna’s magic starts to come out … ? For years the girl (Luna) grows up as an ordinary child with Xan, Fyrian the Simply Enormous Dragon and Glerk the monster from the bog.

But one year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight. Along the way she feeds the babies using starlight, which has a little bit of magic in it but not enough to make the babies magical. She takes the babies left in the forest to a new family on the other side of the forest where she knows they will be happily taken in and cared for. But the witch, whose name is Xan, is very kind. This book is about a place called the Protectorate and the people of the Protectorate sacrifice a baby each year to the witch in the forest. The Girl Who Drank the Moon is an adventure novel that was a New York Times bestseller and won the 2017 Newbery Medal. Perfect for young fans of Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin and Diana Wynne Jones.The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, Algonquin Books, ISBN 9781616207465 Xan is a delightfully pleasant and caring crone witch who dispels the traditional image of cackling evildoer, and replaces it with something far more loving and magical. The writing flows beautifully and Barnhill’s keen observation of human nature fits naturally into the story, which moves along at a satisfying pace. Kelly Barnhill won the Newbery Medal in the US for this thoughtful and magical book about belonging, fear and family, and it’s easy to see why.

But nothing is straightforward, and when Luna turns 13, everything will change. Yet, one day, Xan feeds one baby the moon by mistake and fills her with a huge amount of magic – a dangerous amount, as it turns out – so Xan decides to raise Luna as her own. Yet, unknown to them, the witch is Xan, the plump and knowledgeable protector of the babies that she takes to the neighbouring village to be raised as special children, fed on starlight and destined to do wonderful things. Every year, the evil Protectorate offers a baby to the evil witch in the forest to ensure their village’s safety.