A witch, a dragon, a girl accidentally fed on the moon, and a town that lives in a cloud of sorrow.

Infused with every magical element possible, the girl who drank the Moon depicts a clean, light-hearted, and enchanting story. Thus, making it the perfect bedtime story for your children.

But there’s more to review.

The Story in a Nutshell:

Every year, a mother of the Protectorate sacrifices her child for the hunger of a witch who lives in the forest. Thinking they have lost their child to a cruel witch, the town lives in a cloud of sorrow. But they had no idea that the same witch has been taking care of all those abandoned children for years.

She visits the forest every year and takes the abandoned child to a safe and loving home on the other end of the forest. The witch, who is called Xan, not only saves them but also feeds them the starlight from the sky during their journey to the new home.

But Xan makes an irreversible mistake on one such journey. She accidentally feeds moonlight to a child instead of starlight. The moon is magic, thus the baby becomes magic herself. This situation makes it unsafe to leave a magical baby with a common family. So the witch decides to raise the baby herself, with the help of Glerk, a swamp monster, and Fyrian, a dragon.

The baby is named Luna and her thirteenth birthday is going to be special.

Review:

The girl who drank the Moon written by Kelly Barnhill is a good book without a doubt. Children will absolutely love it. The characters are warm and the storyline is interesting with everything you’d expect from a children’s fantasy book.

The reason I picked this book is its title. It’s fascinating and compelling to read further. However, it wasn’t as much as I had expected it to be.

The beginning was great and the story has all these amazing characters, so I can’t help but feel it could have been so much more than this. The story goes on and on but it does not feel gripping at any point. Sometimes, I felt the urge to fast-forward the story a little. Maybe because I’m an adult, I found it slightly bland. But I can see how it can be a great read for children.

Let’s keep it short and sharp. The merits of this story:

• The fascinating idea of magic and the title
• The loving and out-of-the-box monster and dragon characters
• The overall plot
• Strong and well-written female characters
• The satisfying and feel-good end

Now the demerits:

• The pace of the narrative (a yawn)
• Too much repetition of certain phrases—drove me up the wall!
• Poor structure in spite of the good concept
• Weak conflict

Finally, I liked the girl who drank the Moon, but I didn’t love it. I recommend it to only middle-grade children (or younger). Anyone who’s not in middle grade certainly could do better!

Again, books are subjective. Not everyone likes the same books. So if you find the blurb of this slow-burn intriguing, you should definitely give it a shot — because all books deserve a chance!

Here are some other books I explored recently: The Ickabog (JK. Rowling), The Girl and the Ghost (Hanna Alkaf), and Star Crossed (Minnie Darke).

Cheers!