The Girl Who Drank the Moon

 

Book: The Girl Who Drank the Moon 

Author: Kelly Barnhill 

Illustrator: N/A

Genre: Fantasy 

Awards: Newbery 

Age Group: 5-9th 

Summary: 

The story starts with us learning that of course there is a witch in the woods and that no one has and no one will see the witch because steps have been made to ensure of it. We learn that to appease the witch, she takes children sacrifices, the reason behind it is unknown but that tomorrow is the Day of Sacrifice.

On the Day of Sacrifice, we are introduced to Grand Elder Gherland and his nephew Antain. As Gherland contemplates the day, he hears the cries of a mother refusing to have her infant daughter taken away. They manage to take the baby where Gherland notices she has a crescent moon-shaped birthmark, which according to lore, means that she is special. Nonetheless, he goes and leaves the baby in the forest and when Antain asks if they should make sure that the animals don't take the baby instead of the witch, Gherland reveals that the animals always get the baby because the witch is not real; the witch is used to allow the Elders to use fear to control the people. However there is a witch, a good witch by the name of Xan, who rescues the babies that have been sacrificed and finds them other families on the other side of the forest. She rescues the recent baby but accidently feeds the baby, later named Luna, moonlight instead of sunlight which causes her to be filled with magic. Xan then decides to raise Luna herself to keep her safe. On her thirteenth birthday, with Xan far away, Luna has to deal with her emerging powers as well as Antain, who is determined to kill the witch in order to protect his own son, Luke. The story eventually ends with them finding the real witch and Luna being reunited with her birthmother. 

  

Evaluation and Comments: 

The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a fantastical book where readers are introduced to magic and witches! Personally, I didn't really like this book that much but given the detailed characters and their transition from start to finish, this book will definitely catch the attention of younger children (particularly middle schoolers). 

With classroom activities, one thing you can do is have students create a comic strip of the book in which they illustrate the exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution. They can also pick one character of the book that they like or find interesting and conduct a character study over them.

In conclusion, The Girl Who Drank the Moon has my seal of approval! 🥇😄