Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
12-year-old Luna is a witch with a difference
HALLOWEEN witches are all about potions and black cats, right?
Not Luna, the 12-year-old witch in Kelly Barnhill’s new novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon.
As a baby, Luna is left as a yearly offering to an evil witch. But a good witch named Xan rescues her, just as she had rescued babies like her in the past. Instead of stinky potions, Xan feeds the babies starlight. That gives them strength while Xan looks for a safe home for them.
With Luna, though, Xan makes a big mistake. She accidentally feeds Luna moonlight, which fills the girl with magical powers. Luna has no idea how to use her powers, which grow stronger as she nears the age of 13. Xan must both teach and protect her from those who seek to destroy her.
Instead of a black cat, Luna has a tiny, bossy dragon named Fyrian.
Barnhill said she had always been curious about witches. When she was a girl, her favourite costume included a “black dress, stripy tights and a completely rad witch hat,” she said. – Washington Post
Quattlebaum is a children’s author.