I’ve come to know Kelly Barnhill in a very roundabout way.  I remember a short story of hers that really impressed me (The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020) and when I saw her name on a title that reached out and grabbed me from off the bookstore’s shelf (When Women Were Dragons) I took it and never regretted it. (see my review)  So, when a local bookstore put this title on their clearance rack (shame, fie on thee) I just rather automatically took it.  It’s written for the 9-12 age range and although I tend to discount such titles (as unworthy…) I really have to start opening my mind (and prejudices) a bit more.  Because this one is so worth it.

Every year, a child is chosen from the town; always the very youngest, always a baby.  This baby is then taken to the forest to be left for The Witch.  This sacrifice saves the town from worse things (which are never specified).  So this town continues its life under a never-ending cloud of sorrow.  Unbeknownst to them, each year that baby is rescued by a kindly witch, Xan, (not The Witch) and taken to a town on the other side of the forest to be loved and cared for by a new family.  The poor witch never knew why the babies were left; she assumed the mother abandoned it and she never looked beyond that.  Truthfully, it was a necessary burden to travel into the forest once a year and to keep the child well until she could find a loving family; plus it was painful for her to be close to so much sorrow.  She never went into the town or asked any questions.

Each year as she traveled with a new baby, her bag full of bottles of milk, she frequently had to feed the baby more.  So she would gather up a little starlight to keep the baby well on the journey.  It was an auspicious year when she failed to mind that the moon was full and overhead when she thoughtlessly reached up to pull down starlight.  Instead, and before she realized it, her hands were full of moonlight that she fed to the baby.  And everyone knows moonlight is magic.  The baby ate and ate and filled to bursting with magic.  Xan was horrified but there was no way to undo what was done.  So she kept this baby as she would be the only one who could safely raise her.  So the years passed and baby Luna grew into a rambunctious child; a child who could dispense magic just by being.  Besides her beloved Grandmama, Luna also had two companions: the Bog monster, Glerk, and The Most Perfectly Enormous dragon, Fyrian – who could fit on her hand.  But as the child grew, her magic was as natural to her as breathing. And like breathing, she was no more conscious of it.  After finally locating poor Glerk who had been transformed into a bunny and restoring him; Xan had to acknowledge that she could not teach Luna with her unconscious use of magic and at such a young age.  Reluctantly, Xan decided to lock away Luna’s magic until she was old enough to be taught control.  Unfortunately, the spell precluded Luna’s perception of even the word magic.  Every time the word was mentioned, or if Luna observed Grandmama using magic, her conscious mind would go away.  Xan could not even give her lessons to prepare her; and she had no idea how to release the spell that was set to release when Luna becomes thirteen-years-old.

As expected by this reader, all kinds of things happen at once when Luna is approaching her thirteenth birthday – since Xan doesn’t know exactly when that is.  As Luna starts discovering magic; she also suddenly realizes that her beloved Grandmama is sickening.  Glerk is also very concerned; Xan has lived for five hundred years and this has never happened. 

In the town of sorrow, many things are coming to a head.  The village Elders have a problem; one of their own has a new baby and it is inevitable that his baby will have to be the sacrifice.  Only, this new father is determined that The Witch will have to die, instead; this is concerning to the Elders who have their reasons why the practice must continue.  The Eldest Sister, who leads a congregation of women who live in the Tower, decides she’ll have to go into the forest to stop the young man.  The Sisters also have a reason for insuring the sacrifice continues.  Or, rather, the Eldest has a reason…  The madwoman in the Tower finally escapes with only one intention clear in her head; she must go to the forest because she is there.  She doesn’t know who that is but since she has figured out how to use magic; she is determined that no one will stop her.  Xan is also in the forest, on her way to collect the next abandoned baby.  But Xan is sick and weak and this trip may be her last.  Luna, with her new understanding of magic, follows with her best friends Glerk and Fyrian.  So the forest is quite crowded by now with all these people converging.  And then, of course, there is the volcano…

This was an absolutely delightful story.  I am so impressed how Barnhill managed her plot lines so that every single one converged in the forest even as the characters did, as well.  The characters and the dialogue were spot-on.  This book won the Newberry Medal, not surprisingly.  I don’t know how well this was received by its target audience but I know with certainty that I would have loved this story at that age. I loved it now.  ~~  Catherine Book

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