Knowledge is power, but it is a terrible power when it is hoarded and hidden.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon won the Newberry Award in 2017, and though it was already on my list of books I wanted to read, this pushed it up the pile when I went looking for the next book to complete my “read all the Newberry Winners” goal. (A goal I’ve been terribly neglecting). I had kind of a weird experience with this book,   I wasn’t particularly impressed as I read it and then I reached the end was surprised by all these tears running down my face. I wasn’t expecting that kind of emotional impact from the book at all. It does such a good job of laying out complicated emotional things in a simple, touching manner. I think that childless adults, like me, can occasionally forget the complicated emotional complexities that children must navigate their way through; this book was a good reminder of that.

The book tells the story of a town that, for various reasons, sacrifices a child to the witch of the woods once a year. Meanwhile, the witch of the woods doesn’t really understand what exactly the town is doing, but she dutifully takes the children each year and adopts them out to neighboring towns. And then one year, she takes up a little girl and instead of giving her starlight to eat, as she does the other children, she gives her moonlight and imbues her with magic. She keeps this little girl and teaches her, and as little Luna grows up the unraveling of the town’s secrets begins and forces a confrontation between what is, what was, and what was forgotten.

This is a sweet, touching book about grief, fear, sorrow, and how those emotions aren’t necessarily bad things for humans to have and how to process them in healthy ways. It’s also about joy, love, and the varied nature of family. It is a really beautiful book. I definitely recommend this one.