January 2017 - The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

“Luna lost her footing in the dark and tumbled, head over feet, into a muddy ravine.  She cut her hand; she twisted her ankle, she knocked her skull against a low-hanging branch and burned her leg in a boiling spring.  She was fairly certain she had blood in her hair.
            ‘Caw,’ said the crow. ‘I told you this was a terrible idea.’
            ‘Quiet,’ Luna muttered.  …
Meanwhile, something continued happening inside Luna that she could not explain.  The clicking of gears that she had felt almost her whole life was now more like the gonging of a bell.  The word magic existed.  She knew that now.  But what it was and what it meant were still a mystery.”  pg. 244 – The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
 
Once upon a time, in a sad little village, a mother was forced to give up her baby girl.  This happened every year in the sad little village, the youngest baby was given as a sacrifice to the evil witch in the woods, in hopes that the witch would leave the village in peace.  However, there was no evil witch in the woods.  There was a witch, but she was a good witch, and every year she would rescue a baby abandoned in the woods and take it to one of the Free Cities, where it could be raised in a loving family.  The people in the sad little village never knew what happened to their children, they simply went on with life; the witch never knew why an abandoned baby showed up in the woods every year.  But when young Antain, nephew of the villages Grand Elder, begins asking questions; and when Xan, the witch, decides to raise the latest abandoned baby (who she names Luna), a magical story of paper birds, tiny dragons, swamp monsters, volcanoes, loss and love begins to take shape.  Can Antain find the right answers to his questions and will Luna, now nearly thirteen years, old discover the secret hidden deep inside her?  Read The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill to join Antain and Luna on their quests for answers.
 
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill was awarded the 2017 Newbery Medal.  Each year the American Library Association (ALA) honors outstanding children's books with a variety of awards.  The Newbery Medal, for chapter books, has been awarded each year, since 1922, "…to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."(ala.org).  The Inquisitor’s Tale (Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog) by Adam Gidwitz, Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan and Wolf Hollow, written by Lauren Wolk were named 2017 Newbery Honor Books.