Kelly Barnhill
Also by Kelly Barnhill
;
The MosTly True sTory of Jack
Iron hearTed VIoleT
The WITch’s Boy
Kelly Barnhill
ALGONQUIN YOUNG READERS • 2016
Published by
Algonquin Young Readers
an imprint of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225
a division of
Workman Publishing
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014
© 2016 by Kelly Barnhill.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Design by Carla Weise.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Names: Barnhill, Kelly Regan, author.
Title: The girl who drank the moon / Kelly Barnhill.
Description: First edition. | Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Young Readers, 2016. | “Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited”—Title page verso. | Audience: 4 to 6. | Summary:
“An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016006542 | ISBN 9781616205676
Subjects: LCSH: Witches—Juvenile fiction. | Magic—Juvenile fiction. |
Friendship in children—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Witches—Fiction. |
Magic—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Fantasy. | LCGFT: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.B26663 Gi 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016006542
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
For Ted,
with love.
;
1.
In Which a Story Is Told
Yes.
There is a witch in the woods. There has always been a witch.
Will you stop your fidgeting for once? My stars! I have never seen such a fidgety child.
No, sweetheart, I have not seen her. No one has. Not for ages.
We’ve taken steps so that we will never see her.
Terrible steps.
Don’t make me say it. You already know, anyway.
Oh, I don’t know, darling. No one knows why she wants children. We don’t know why she insists that it must always be the very youngest among us. It’s not as though we could just ask her.