Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig is about an autistic teenager in foster care named Ginny Moon, who has special needs, and her journey to find a place to belong. Ginny was adopted by her new parents after her birth mother, Gloria, was neglectful and abusive. Ginny’s new adoptive parents, Maura and Brian, love her and care about her but they don’t quite understand Ginny. They try to make her feel that she belongs with them and that Ginny has somewhere that she can call home.
Ginny, however, is determined to get into contact with Gloria. Ginny knows that Gloria isn’t suitable to be a parent. Ginny isn’t allowed to use a computer without the help of an adult but she found a way to sneak online and reconnect with her birth mother. Ginny wants to see if her “Baby Doll” is safe and she is willing to risk her safety to make sure her “Baby Doll” is safe.
Ginny’s adoptive parents and her therapist, Patrice, believe that Ginny is talking about a doll when she mentions “Baby Doll.” They do not believe her claims that her “Baby Doll” is a real child since they didn’t see any proof of any other children in Gloria’s house other than Ginny. They are confused why Ginny is so insistent on reuniting with Gloria when that would put Ginny at risk for more abuse.
The book took a bit for me to get into. I had a hard time connecting with Ginny and her adoptive parents. She is neurodivergent and I am not familiar with people who are autistic. It was hard for me to tell if she was being a difficult character or if she was acting like that because she was neurodivergent.
I was a bit confused on how Ginny saw things. When the novel opened up, Ginny was given an electronic baby doll to care for. The doll wouldn’t stop crying so Ginny punches the doll and stuffs it in a suitcase under her bed. It is hard to reconcile this violent side of her with the other side that wants to protect her “Baby Doll.” It was worrying when Ginny wouldn’t refer to any baby by their gender but would only refer to them as “it.” I found it weird that she was worried about her “Baby Doll” but seemed to care very little about other children and the electronic baby doll. I understand why her adoptive parents were hesitant to believe her at first but then years passed by and it was only when Ginny made one flippant comment did someone finally take her seriously.
I hated how rude and mean her adoptive parents were. As soon as they realized that Ginny was too much to handle, they were ready to give her back. I do sympathize that they needed to protect their newborn baby but I felt that they didn’t even take the time to understand Ginny or try to figure out why she wanted to see her birth mom. The book’s pace did take a bit to pick up and get to the point. It was repetitive when talking about Ginny’s different idiosyncrasies, but the author glosses over Ginny’s traumatic past. The author hints at her past trauma but never goes into much detail. I feel like if we were given a bit more detail maybe I would have been able to connect a bit better with Ginny. I would, however, be open to reading more books by the author.
