The Girl Who Drank the Moon

📘 About This Book

SPECIAL PREVIEW! 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 girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. 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. The acclaimed author of The Witch’s Boy has created another epic coming-of-age fairy tale destined to become a modern classic.

📖 Summary

Kelly Barnhill’s enchanting 2016 juvenile fiction novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, invites readers into a richly imagined fantasy world centered on the isolated town of the Protectorate. Every single year, the frightened inhabitants of this town leave a helpless baby as a sacrifice to a dreaded witch living in the surrounding forest. The townspeople are convinced that this grim offering is the only thing standing between them and total destruction, keeping the supposed monster from terrorizing their community. However, the dark legends of the Protectorate are entirely unfounded. The forest witch, whose name is Xan, is actually kind, gentle, and deeply compassionate. Far from being a terrifying threat, Xan shares her woodland home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon named Fyrian. Rather than harming the sacrificed infants, Xan rescues every single abandoned child and safely delivers them to loving, welcoming families living on the opposite side of the forest. During these long journeys, she nourishes the babies with starlight to sustain them. The core plot takes a dramatic turn one fateful year when Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight. This careless mistake fills the otherwise ordinary child with an overwhelming, extraordinary amount of magic. Recognizing the immense danger and power of this magical infusion, Xan decides she must raise the young girl herself, naming her Luna. As the years pass, Luna grows under the loving care of Xan, Glerk, and Fyrian, remaining blissfully unaware of her true origins or the powerful forces resting inside her. The narrative builds toward Luna's thirteenth birthday, a crucial milestone when her dormant magic is scheduled to finally emerge. As the magic begins to bubble to the surface, Xan finds herself facing difficult challenges and looming threats that test the boundaries of her love and protection. Barnhill’s lyrical storytelling weaves together themes of family, sacrifice, and the dangers of misplaced fear and institutionalized sorrow. The inhabitants of the Protectorate live in a perpetual state of grief and submission, manipulated by sorrow and false narratives, while true warmth and wisdom thrive in the margins with Xan and her fantastical companions. The novel explores how stories shape our reality, how love can transcend traditional boundaries, and how ordinary lives can be touched by the extraordinary. As Luna approaches her teenage years, the collision between the hidden truths of the forest and the rigid, fearful beliefs of the Protectorate becomes inevitable, setting the stage for a transformative journey of self-discovery, courage, and redemption for characters on both sides of the woods.

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