The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly R. Barnhill

Bibliography:

Barnhill, Kelly, R. The Girl Who Drank the Moon. North Carolina: Algonquin Young Readers, a division of Workman Publishing, 2016. ISBN 9781616205676

Plot Summary:

A baby is sacrificed to the witch to protect the townspeople of  the Protectorate. This is tradition passed down from generation to generation. The people have never seen the witch, but they are told to sacrifice the babies to keep the witch from harming the others. The witch is actually nice and caring. She gives the sacrificed babies a new home. All except for Luna, due to accidentally giving her the magic from the moon to eat. The witch, Xan, cared for the "enmagicked" Luna as if she were her very own granddaughter. Luna's magic was out of control, so Xan put a spell on Luna to make her sleep until she was thirteen. She hoped this would give Luna the time to mature before destroying the forest and everything in it. This would also prolong Xan's life to give her time to figure out how to teach Luna and control her magic.

Critical Analysis:

Kelly Barnhill has a vivid imagination and a bit of a dark side judging by her fantasy novel. Her characters are creative, different, magical, and either good or evil. Xan is the good witch living in the forest that is perceived as the evil witch who wants to eat or suck the souls out of the babies. Xan is actually kind and caring. She took the babies that were left in the forest to loving families in the "free cities." Glerk is her swamp monster friend that lives in a bog and loves poetry. You wouldn't usually think of a swamp monster as a poet. Fyrian is a tiny dragon who believes he is larger than life because his mom told him so. He is sweet, playful, and loving. Luna was the baby that was sacrificed for the greater good. The townspeople of the Protectorate never knew that Luna was going to change their ways. The magic she was fed from the light of the moon would change everything. Xan, Glerk, Fyrian, and Luna lived in the dangerous forest as one happy family. Grand Elder Gherland was the head of the council. He was stone cold evil. He and the council remind me of politicians that make decisions for us, giving us no say whatsoever. His nephew, Antain was following in his footsteps until he couldn't live with the sacrifice. His change of heart was complete when the madwoman, mother of Luna, attacked him with paper birds, causing him to bleed and scar. We can't blame the madwoman for being angry and sad about losing her daughter, Luna. He became a carpenter instead. His wife, Ethyne was strong minded and intelligent. It was easy to predict from foreshadowing that they would have a baby chosen for the sacrifice. Sister Ignatia lives with a female army in the tower in the center of the town. She was also stone cold evil. Ethyne noticed her health improve when she was near someone that was sorrowful. The madwoman noticed her feeding off her sorrow as well. The madwoman replaced her sorrow with help to keep Sister Ignatia from feeding off of her.

The setting is the Protectorate, the bog and the forest. The volcano is to blame for getting the townspeople together in the Protectorate. The people were full of sorrow from losing family, friends, and their homes. In the forest, was a swamp. The imagery used to explain the swamp makes you cringe and hope to never come across an area like that. Kelly Barnhill described the swamp as a "bubbly, sulfury, and noxious, fed and warmed by an underground, restlessly sleeping volcano and covered with a slick of slime whose color ranged from poison green to lightning blue to blood red." Yuck! The metaphor of the bog is described by Glerk as the center of everything. This is where life began and this is where it ends when Glerk carries Xan back to the bog in the end.

The plot is Sister Ignatia convinced a whole town to sacrifice their babies allowing her to feed off of their sorrow. Xan was not aware of this plot or she would have helped the families reunite. Instead, she helped the babies find loving homes. Luna was "enmagicked" from Xan feeding her the light of the moon. This was hard at first when her magic was out of control and draining Xan. However, after awakening from her cocoon of slumber, Luna learned to control her magic. The magic helped save the people of the Protectorate from the evil witch, Sister Ignatia. Sister Ignatia was the "sorrow eater" that created the "sorrow farm" in the Protectorate to make her stronger. The root of Sister Ignatia's evil amazingly enough was from a wall she built around her sorrow that she tried to bury deep within herself. This reminds me of the proverb, "misery loves company."

Gherland went by Sister Ignatia's order, but he was still incredibly evil. Kelly Barnhill expressed this in, "All this kindness was nearly killing him." He enjoyed taking the babies from the people to stir up fear and compliance. People that were terrified would not challenge the leaders.

The theme is find the silver lining in your sorrow and hope. Sorrow will make your life worse or kill you. There is also the obvious and usual good triumphs evil. The not so obvious, challenge what seems wrong. Don't be submissive to something that may ruin your life.

The style Kelly uses is different forms of narration. The chapters go back and forth from a third person point of view narrating to a first person narration of a mom telling her child the story of the witch. I believe this is done to understand what the people went through and how they would not challenge the leaders or the witch. The font was different in one narration from the other to help distinguish the difference. Glerk's poetry was also in a different font.The paper used is thick, off white with a light texture.

Thank goodness Antain challenged their tradition and went out to hunt the witch. The paths of all the characters crossed in the forest allowing the truth to be set free.

This story has a slow beginning but stick with it. It gets better, I promise.




Review Excerpts:

Newberry Medal-2017
Entertainment Weekly Best Middle Grade Book-2016
New York Public Library Best Book-2016
Chicago Public Library Best Book-2016
Publishers Weekly Best Book-2016
School Library Journal Best Book-2016
2017 BookList Youth Editors’ Choice

From School Library Journal: "a memorable story that will easily enchant readers"

From Kirkus Reviews:  "Replete with traditional motifs, this nontraditional fairy tale boasts sinister and endearing characters, magical elements, strong storytelling, and unleashed forces."

Connections:

Gather similar book to read such as:

• O'Connor, Barbara. Wish. ISBN 9781250144058
• Lai, Thanhha. Inside Out and Back Again. ISBN 9780061962790
• Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-7). ISBN 9780545162074

Use for discussion in fantasy genre. Use to compare and contrast.

Gather other Kelly Barnhill books to read such as:

• Barnhill, Kelly, R. The Witch's Boy. ISBN 9781616203511
• Barnhill, Kelly, R. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories. ISBN 9781616207977
• Barnhill, Kelly, R. Iron Hearted Violet. ISBN 978031605671
• Barnhill, Kelly, R. The Mostly True Story of Jack. ISBN 9780316056700

Use these books for an Author's Spotlight. Use in Book Club disscussion. Use to discuss fantasy genre. Use to compare and contrast.