Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Girl Who Drank the Moon

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The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

7 reviews

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Around my birthday a couple months ago, I went to a used bookstore and picked up a few gems, including this one, which seemed perfect to read around Halloween.

The Girl Who Drank the Moonby Kelly Barnhill is a middle grade fantasy novel about a town that sacrifices a baby each year to the witch in the woods under the belief that she would curse them elsewise. The witch doesn't know why the town is abandoning their babies, but she tries to save them and give them each a loved home. Until one day, she accidentally enmagiks a baby by feeding her moonlight and decides to raise her as her own. Over the novel there are secrets that lead to the discovery of why the town must sacrifice babies and how the story began. The novel actually won a Newberry award!

The author, Kelly Barnhill, is a teacher turned author who loves promoting the arts for children.

I really enjoyed this story for a middle grade novel. There were a few themes that really struck out to me: the danger of sorrow vs hope, the fragility of memory, as well as some motifs of paper and birds and magic.

The worldbuilding of the novel is great, showing a vast landscape for readers to escape into, complete with its own laws and myths and origin stories.

The writing style was a little confusing and a lot whimsical. Half the time I wasn't quite sure what was going on but I enjoyed the ride, reminding me kind of like the show I just watched called Over the Garden Wall.

I loved the characters as well, each one combatting their own fears and sorrows. My favorite character was the Simply Enormous dragon Fyrian who was always childlike and naive, but had blocked out his own trauma which perhaps kept him this way.

Perhaps the main idea of the book is the hope and sacrifices we make for whom we love can combat sorrow. The witch and the girl formed a tightly-bound relationship like a mother and daughter and held hope for each other. The swamp monster and the dragon seemed to also care about each other. The boy from the town found his own love and hope, ready to change the world, as did the madwoman.

I would highly recommend this book to middle grade readers who like whimsical quirky things with deep messages and meanings or who like to make their own inferences in stories.

Overall, this was a four star read for me!

Content Warnings

marissasa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This magical middle grade story was such a whimsical read. I listened to the audiobook on and off while driving and thought it was really well done, the narrator doing different voices for each of the characters really reminded me of listening to my mom do the same thing when she read stories for me as a child. Something I really appreciated about the story was that it didn't shy away from dark themes and that it treated its young audience as mature enough to understand the stakes and complex emotions of the main characters. Although some of the plot points were predictable, the final outcome still felt earned and I enjoyed all the forms of growth and character development we got to see over the years of their lives. The whole time I listened to this book I was thinking that it would make for an excellent animated show or movie and I really hope it gets adapted some day!

Content Warnings