The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The more the villagers fear the dragon and trust the mayor to save them (“I, alone, can fix it,” he crows), the more insular the town becomes: People turn against one another, all signs of community vanish - library, schoolhouse, park, even the trees - until the villagers of Stone-in-the-Glen languish in quasi lockdown, having lost all memory of what it means to be a neighbor.

In Barnhill’s case, a dragon periodically appears to immolate an idyllic town called Stone-in-the-Glen, leaving the villagers reliant on its dragon-hunting mayor to keep the creature at bay. The ghost of Smaug haunts every new rendition, for Tolkien’s creature was that deft mix of threat, wickedness and sophistication, and every dragon since must find its way out of Smaug’s cave.īut two new books, Kelly Barnhill’s “The Ogress and the Orphans” and Christina Soontornvat’s “The Last Mapmaker,” toy with dragon tropes to highlight why humans succumb to this same old story - and the sheer force of will it takes to change the narrative. Some dragons are reptilian, others more birdlike some breathe fire, others ice some have twin heads or tails. It is only a matter of time in most fantasy novels before a parentless child on a hero’s journey runs toward or away from one to prove their mettle. THE LAST MAPMAKER By Christina Soontornvat THE OGRESS AND THE ORPHANS By Kelly Barnhill She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her three children and husband.

She was also a McKnight Artist's Fellowship recipient in Children's Literature. She won the World Fantasy Award for her novella The Unlicensed Magician, a Parents Choice Gold Award for Iron Hearted Violet, the Charlotte Huck Honor for The Girl Who Drank the Moon, and has been a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, the Andre Norton award, and the PEN/USA literary prize. You can chat with her on her blog at Kelly Barnhill is an author and teacher.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill