Workman Publishing, 2016
Winner of the 2017 Newbery Medal
The New York Times Bestseller
An Entertainment Weekly Best Middle Grade Book of 2016
A New York Public Library Best Book of 2016
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2016
An Amazon Top 20 Best Book of 2016
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2016
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2016
Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2016
2017 Booklist Youth Editors’ Choice

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge–with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Deadly birds with uncertain intentions flock nearby. A volcano, quiet for centuries, rumbles just beneath the earth’s surface. And the woman with the Tiger’s heart is on the prowl . . .

Kelly says…

It’s hard to say, really and truly, when I started writing this book. Most books — for me, anyway — have their genesis long before any notion of character backstories or world building or carefully laid plot points even begin to creep their way into the consciousness. An agitating question, sometimes. Or a thorny, vexing notion – not unlike that bit of sand that gets in the gullet of an oyster. For me, I had been spending months – years, really – puzzling over this notion of false narratives, and how the control and spread of those narratives cause damage now (just look at the nonsense that spreads online), and has caused damage all throughout our history. And I knew I wanted to write . . . well, something, that got at that question, but I had no idea what it would be.

And then one day, I was on a run with my dog through a very beautiful forested park in Minneapolis, when I stopped in my my tracks, because I had a sudden image in my head of a swamp monster. And the swamp monster had four arms and wide, damp jaws, and a pleasant demeanor. And he held a flute in one hand and a daisy in another, and he recited a poem.

I stood very still (my dog was very confused) and memorized the poem, and I ran home straight away, and wrote it down on a note card. I stared at it for a moment, and then turned the card around and wrote “Swamp Monster” on the back. And under that, I wrote, “His name is Glerk.”

I was pretty sure this was the beginning of a book (though, in truth, the poem – which was never touched or revised – appears at the very end), so I did what I always do when I start a novel. I got a box and threw the card in.

Over the next year, the box grew full. It had terrible drawings and maps. It had conversations with the characters that I basically wrote in a trance. It had bits of history. Sentences that pleased me. Notes on power structures and character dislikes and useful magics. And poems too – so many poems. The composition of the full narrative happened a while later, and I hadn’t even realized when I started that I was answering that sticky, itchy, vexing question that I turned over in my mind many months earlier. But once I finished the book, there it was. It’s a mystery, really, how it all works out. The only thing I know for sure is that Glerk the Swamp monster led me to the writing of this book, and I am forever grateful.

Reviews:

“Impossible to put down . . . The Girl Who Drank the Moon is as exciting and layered as classics like Peter Pan or TheWizard of Oz.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A gorgeously written fantasy about a girl who becomes “enmagicked” after the witch who saves her from death feeds her moonlight.”
—People  

“Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick . . . Replete with traditional motifs, this nontraditional fairy tale boasts sinister and endearing characters, magical elements, strong storytelling, and unleashed forces.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Rich with multiple plotlines that culminate in a suspenseful climax, characters of inspiring integrity, a world with elements of both whimsy and treachery, and prose that melds into poetry. A sure bet for anyone who enjoys a truly fantastic story.”
—Booklist, starred review

“An expertly woven and enchanting offering.”
—School Library Journal, starred review

“Barnhill crafts another captivating fantasy, this time in the vein of Into the Woods . . . Barnhill delivers an escalating plot filled with foreshadowing, well-developed characters, and a fully realized setting, all highlighting her lyrical storytelling.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review