Well-written children’s fiction can have wonderfully soothing powers to it. There’s a lot of comfort to be found in the simplicity of the storytelling, the fun and quirky characters and the wholesome messages they support which a lot of us still need reminding of as we get older. When we turn to a children’s book, we want to feel like we’re being read to and we want to feel like everything will be alright in the end. In this regard, Kelly Barnhill’s magical novel The Girl Who Drank The Moon provides us with that gentle, smiling escapism that we crave.
The story follows Xan, an ancient witch who lives in the woods, who rescues an abandoned baby and feeds her pure starlight in order to nourish it back to health. However, one night, she accidentally feeds her pure moonlight instead, filling the child with a powerful and unrelenting magic. Accordingly, she names the child Luna. And so begins the test of raising a magic baby that has no idea how to control the unyielding power swirling inside of them. The two of them live together in a bog, along with a tiny dragon called Fyrian, who is under the impression that he is huge, and a monster/poet called Glerk, who possibly created the world? We’re unsure. When Xan finds herself unable to prevent Luna from turning rabbits into trees, trees into shoes, shoes into rabbits, she casts a spell that will close off all of Luna’s connection to, understanding of, or even ability to hear the word ‘magic’ until her 13th birthday. At that point, all her magic will be unleashed on the world AND she’ll absorb Xan’s magic, most likely killing her somehow? I know, it sounds like a lot. And this is just the main storyline. There’s two whole other arcs running alongside this about a madwoman, magic paper birds, and a dude who wants to be a carpenter. Also there’s a volcano which hasn’t erupted for like two thousand years but that’ll probably be fine, right? Only typing this all out do I fully realise just how complicated the book actually is, and how skilfully Barnhill pulls it all together in a way which is accessible and entertaining for a child reader.
I think what helps her pull this off is the stunning minimalism of her writing. Each paragraph and each sentence feels cut down to the bare necessities of what we need to know. Obviously this makes it read much faster and sharper. But within the bluntness of it, she still regularly throws beautiful turns of phrase at us and offers countless moments where we stop and pause after a sentence so that we can read it again.
It also helps that each of the characters are likeable. They are all flawed to a sensible and un-profound extent, so that we can see a small part of ourselves in each of them. They each have something to learn that we want to learn with them, be it about honesty, motherhood, family, love or whatever. It works out that, whoever is on the page in any given chapter, we want to know their story and we want to be part of their world.
But above all, The Girl Who Drank The Moon’s ambitious tale comes together seamlessly because the book is fun! Just as Luna’s magic knows no bounds, the book is bursting with ideas and little tidbits of detail that add something special to every chapter. It’s a controlled and refined kind of chaos, one that makes you want to act the book out and put on silly voices and make everyone hot chocolate. If ever there was a book to read out loud to another person, it’s this one. It’s a very pretty, lighthearted, effervescent novel that guarantees a good night’s sleep after finishing it.
I think what helps her pull this off is the stunning minimalism of her writing. Each paragraph and each sentence feels cut down to the bare necessities of what we need to know. Obviously this makes it read much faster and sharper. But within the bluntness of it, she still regularly throws beautiful turns of phrase at us and offers countless moments where we stop and pause after a sentence so that we can read it again.
It also helps that each of the characters are likeable. They are all flawed to a sensible and un-profound extent, so that we can see a small part of ourselves in each of them. They each have something to learn that we want to learn with them, be it about honesty, motherhood, family, love or whatever. It works out that, whoever is on the page in any given chapter, we want to know their story and we want to be part of their world.
But above all, The Girl Who Drank The Moon’s ambitious tale comes together seamlessly because the book is fun! Just as Luna’s magic knows no bounds, the book is bursting with ideas and little tidbits of detail that add something special to every chapter. It’s a controlled and refined kind of chaos, one that makes you want to act the book out and put on silly voices and make everyone hot chocolate. If ever there was a book to read out loud to another person, it’s this one. It’s a very pretty, lighthearted, effervescent novel that guarantees a good night’s sleep after finishing it.
The Girl Who Drank The Moon is published by Algonquin Young Readers
review written by Alex George
review written by Alex George
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