By: Emily Zhang

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a fantastic book written by Kelly Barnhill, tells an enlightening story of magic, magical beasts, witches, and a so-called “dominant” super volcano. This story starts off with Xan, a relatively kind witch, who lives in the forest with a swamp monster, Glerk, and tiny dragon, Fyrian. The people of the Protectorate, a town on one side of the woods, don’t know this, though. Every year, they sacrifice one baby to Xan, hoping she’ll leave their village in peace. But Xan recuses the baby, sending it off to the welcoming families on the other side of the forest after feeding it starlight. This process all goes according to plan until Xan accidentally feeds a mischievous baby starlight instead of moonlight, filling the baby with magical powers.

Xan decides to raise the baby, whom she named Luna, on her own. Luna’s powers, which emerged very soon, caused chaos in the forest. In an attempt to keep Luna under control, Xan locks Luna’s powers away in a case which would keep Luna contained until her twelfth birthday. It had consequences, though.

Meanwhile, in the Protectorate, a young man thinks that he can “free” his people by killing Xan the Witch. He soon discovers that Xan isn’t the danger; the real danger is close to home.

What I like the most about this thrilling story is the characters, backstories, and reasons behind the actions. Kelly Barnhill tells this story in a unique way so that the unravel the story in ways readers couldn’t even imagine. I would definitely give this book a review of 10/10 and recommend it to every reader out there!