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The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill







The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill is a middle grade fiction novel. It won the 2017 Newbery Medal, the highest U.S. award in children's literature. It's the story of a girl who is rescued by a witch. The witch accidentally feeds her moonlight which fills her with magic.

Sex: None at all.

Language: None.

Alcohol/Drug Abuse: None.

Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: The main village in the story believes that a terrible witch lives in the woods. In order to save themselves from the witch, they leave the youngest baby each year in the woods as a sacrifice to her. They don't die, though. She rescues them and takes them to loving families in other villages. But the sacrifice concept is a little morbid. The scene where Luna is taken from her mother as the sacrifice could be disturbing. One character is attacked by paper birds and his face is cut. The real witch feeds on the sorrow from the town. There is death, but it isn't gruesome.

Final Note: I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this book at first, but it was written beautifully. It ended up being a wonderful story. The story does revolve around magic and it talks about how the world was created from a bog, so religious families may want to keep that in mind. Overall, it was a lovely book.

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