The kindly witch of the forest did not mean to feed the baby moonlight. She had only intended to satisfy the infant with drops of honey-sweet starlight to keep her happy on the journey to the free cities, where the formerly doomed child could be raised with love and happiness and sunshine. But she wasn't paying attention. She let her mind wander. Maybe you will feel that she did it "accidentally on purpose." But in any rate, the deed was done--the child was now enmagicked, and Xan must raise Luna as her own, teaching her the ways of magic and loving her as her own "granddaughter."
Where did these abandoned babies come from, one each year? Xan didn't know, but she did know that if she did not rescue them, they would be devoured by wild animals. The truth is, they were the annual sacrifice from the gloomy village, to sate the evil witch of the forest, according to their myth. But the truth was even more horrible than the depressing loss of the youngest child of the town each year. An evil existed that was beyond their knowledge, and almost beyond Xan's, perhaps the only one who could help their world from being destroyed.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill is lyrical, mysterious, tucked with magic and mysterious creatures, but grounded in the reality of a good story well-told. The threads that run through the pages eventually come together. And while you know what you want to happen, you cannot trust that it will. This is that sort of book.
I really enjoyed every one of its 386 pages. But unless you want to find yourself staying up late because you don't want to put it down, don't get too close to the end of it at bedtime!
I bought this hardbound version (brand new 2017 award) from Amazon.
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