Name: Celeste Richardson's review of The Original Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
Item: The Original Ginny Moon
Rating: 4
Author: Celeste Richardson

Benjamin Ludwig

The Original Ginny Moon

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Told in an extraordinary and wholly unique voice that will candidly take you into the mind of a curious and deeply human character. For the first time in her life, Ginny Moon has found her "forever home" -- a place where she'll be safe and protected, with a family that will love and nurture her. It's exactly the kind of home that all foster kids are hoping for. So why is this 14-year-old so desperate to get kidnapped by her abusive, drug-addict birth mother, Gloria, and return to a grim existence of hiding under the kitchen sink to avoid the authorities and her mother's violent boyfriends? While Ginny is pretty much your average teenager -- she plays the flute in the school band, has weekly basketball practice and studies Robert Frost poems for English class -- she is autistic. And so what's important to Ginny includes starting every day with exactly nine grapes for breakfast, Michael Jackson, bacon-pineapple pizza and, most of all, getting back to Gloria so she can take care of her baby doll. GINNY MOON is a compulsively readable and touching novel about being an outsider trying to find a place to belong and making sense of a world that just doesn't seem to add up. "Ginny Moon is a brilliant debut. In asking us to identify with a developmentally delayed, autistic teenage girl and her peculiar obsession, Ben Ludwig set himself an Olympic degree of difficulty, but he succeeds with the extraordinary Ginny Moon. I was unable to put the book down as I willed her to overcome the obstacles within and around her. Ben Ludwig is a fine observer of human dynamics, and his sometimes dark sense of humor means that the emotional journey, challenging as it is, never becomes wearing. I was mightily impressed--this novel has all the elements for critical and popular success!" --Graeme Simsion, New York Times bestselling author of The Rosie Project

Ginny Moon

Celeste Richardson

It took me a while to warm up to Ginny Moon, but once I did it had my heart. This is the story of Ginny, a thirteen-year-old girl with autism, and her newest Forever Family. She’s been adopted by the Moons, who didn’t think they would ever be able to have children of their own. But when Maura, Ginny’s Forever Mom, becomes pregnant, and Ginny exhibits some concerning behavior with the electronic plastic baby they give her to practice with, life gets a lot more complicated.

Ginny’s fixation on her Baby Doll that was left behind when she was taken from Gloria, her Birth Mom, is the source of nearly all of her behavioral issues with her new family. Nothing they offer her can break this fixation. When the reason behind her fixation finally comes to light, things spiral, bringing the past into Ginny’s present in detrimental ways. Her future is up in the air, and I just desperately wanted her to be okay.

This novel made me so sad. Things wrapped up alright, but I spent most of the book just heartbroken for everyone involved in the story. And, honestly, mad at most of them, at least some of the time. Ginny’s is a tough situation, made tougher by her inability to always communicate what she needs to, or always understand what she’s told. I know this would have to be a high-stress situation, especially with a newborn thrown into the mix. But there were times when I just desperately wanted people, especially Maura, to give Ginny a bit more grace and show her more love.

Ludwig wrote this book from a place of understanding. He is himself an adoptive parent, and he and his wife adopted a teenager with autism. I thought Ginny’s voice was lovingly, carefully captured. While I can’t know what it’s like to be autistic, and neither can Ludwig from a personal perspective, I felt that he told this story in a way that was respectful, believable, and relatable. I grew to love Ginny, and wanted nothing more than for the people in her life to truly see her. And they did. She was surrounded by a very supportive cast. Mistakes were made, especially in the cases of both Ginny’s Birth Mom and her Forever Mom, but both still felt realistic and sympathetic even when I wanted to shake them for their actions. 

Ginny Moon is a story, and a character, with a ton of heart. While I struggled with it in the beginning, it ultimately won me over. It was hard to read at times, but the payoff was worth it. If you’re looking for a moving story with a charming but misunderstood protagonist that will also educate you on autism and the foster system, I have yet to come across another book that fits all of that criteria this well.

Jenna

I absolutely loved Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig. The book is about a 14-year-old girl named Ginny who has autism. The author has an adopted daughter with autism, so I suspect he drew some inspiration for the character from his own experience.

This book follows Ginny as she adjusts to life with her "forever parents" (though these are not the first people who have called themselves her forever parents) and hatches a scheme to get back her baby doll, who was left behind when she was taken from her birth mom. Ginny gets herself into trouble repeatedly, scaring and driving a wedge between herself and her adoptive parents.

Ginny's actions made me very anxious and as a result, I read this book pretty quickly. However, so did the actions of the adults around her! They weren't any better. I was rooting for Ginny but frustrated with the adults around her. I imagine that is how Ginny felt! One thing that was hard was that her adoptive parents at times treated her like she should know better. They sometimes lacked understanding, and it felt as if Ginny was their practice child until the birth of their "real" child. Ginny struggles to communicate and connect with her adoptive parents, and their relationship is complicated.

Ginny is such a great character. The book is written from her perspective, which really allows you to empathize with her struggles and frustrations. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who liked The Rosie Project, the Netflix show Atypical, or just wants to read a heartwarming, good book with complicated family dynamics and an unusual but wonderful main character.

Jennifer Dieter

4.5/5 Ginny Moon stole my heart. She's one of those characters that really came alive on the page. Her viewpoint felt believable and brought on all the feels that come with the complexity of being a human. I really appreciated her journey toward self-advocacy and finding a place where she felt accepted and loved - the last chapter was particularly powerful. Her relationship with Patrice felt particularly authentic, and I hope all girls like Ginny have a trusted professional in their life who helps them deal with challenges and navigate relationships in such a kind and compassionate way. The other characters fell flat to me and on the verge of being stereotypes. The female characters (moms and teachers) were written in a way that made them aloof and uncaring while the dads were written to be fun and good-natured. It makes some sense since this was written from the perspective of an adoptive dad. Ginny will be in my heart for awhile, and reading Ginny Moon increased my empathy for children who have autism and parents who choose to foster.

Laura

This is not a kind of book I would normally pick up, but I wanted something a little more... lighthearted then the books I've been reading lately. The synopsis made it sound like the kind of quirky A Man Called Ove-esque books that deal with heavy topics, yes, but end up completely capturing your heart regardless. Ginny Moon does have that in spades, but it also is a much darker and even frustrating at times book to read. 

The frustratingness doesn't at all come from the writing style, or maybe a little bit. It's very simplistic and is meant to make us feel like we're in Ginny's head. I can't speak to the accuracy of how well Ludwig portrays autism, I don't have autism nor am close to anyone who does, but I also haven't heard anyone offended by the way the book is written. No, instead I found myself getting aggravated by Ginny's actions and the inability of her adoptive parents to understand her. I suppose in that respect it's very realistic and probably many people who adopted special needs children could relate to this, but as a story it gets old very quickly.

But Ginny Moon does have strengths, and the character of Ginny is the strongest. I could tell Ludwig genuinely cares about doing her character justice and showing all aspects of her personality. While she does have an aptitude towards math, she isn't at all an autism stereotype. Instead, she feels like a fully fleshed out character, and as much as she sometimes frustrated me, I couldn't help but like her anyway. 

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

Jessica 

As a note, a printed galley of this novel was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.


Ginny Moon is a highly intriguing novel that hit a lot of high and low notes. I don't want my rating to fool you--I did appreciate this novel and thought it was very important to its genre. There were a few things I didn't like about it, which were what landed it between 3 and 4 stars, I may update it to 4 of 5 stars at the end of the day, like the ending.

For the most part Benjamin Ludwig crafts an unforgettable tale that combines innocence and a little heartbreak. I can't explain how I felt while reading it without spoiling and that's the opposite of what I want to do. It shines light on a character that is vastly underrepresented in modern and classic literature, and its prose is thoughtful--elegant and thought provoking. Ludwig managed to impress me deeply with the way the plotline is captured and you can feel everything as you are reading. I do mean everything.

Full of solid relationships (family and all its confusions) and sprinkled in are a lot of mixed genres; Ginny Moon is charming. I do think that even the most reluctant of readers will appreciate this novel and the characters in it. The tone is such a compelling one that you can't really put it down.

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