4.5★
You’d like to give Ginny Moon a hug, except she’d probably ”recoil”, as she is fond of saying. Ginny is an adopted, autistic 14-year-old who tells the story in her own words, which are unusual, to say the least.

She was taken from her abusive, drug addict mother and fostered out. Then she had a Forever Home, where she would live forever. But, for one reason and another, it didn’t work out. She did some pretty dreadful things, but to be fair, she was provoked. So she was moved, more than once. Hence, “forever” is just a word.

“Nine years old is how old I was when the police came. It’s how old I was before Forever started.”

She has an understanding that some phrases are just phrases, and she knows people say them but she doesn’t always know what they mean. And she doesn’t ask. She reminds me of someone who’s hard of hearing who misses part of the conversation but isn’t sure what they’ve missed and isn’t game to ask. She’s not embarrassed to ask – she simply has no desire to lengthen a conversation.

“So I don’t say anything. Instead I make my shoulders go up and down. Sometimes that means I don’t know. And sometimes it’s just your shoulders going up and down.”

And

“‘Right?’

‘Right,’ I say because when someone says Right? they always want you to say the same thing right back to them.”

She tries hard to follow rules and accept all the changes as much as she’s able.

“It’s like I left the original me behind when I came to live with my new Forever Parents. With Brian and Maura Moon. My name is Ginny Moon now but there are still parts of the original me left.”

The book opens with her freaking out because the plastic electronic baby doll she’s been given keeps crying loudly and she can’t get it to be quiet so she packs it into a suitcase under her bed. Her very pregnant Forever Mother is horrified when she discovers this, because of course, the doll was to help Ginny get ready for her Forever Parents’ first baby.

So now what? Ginny just keeps asking for her own Baby Doll that she left at her Birth Mother Gloria’s house when the police came and took her away. She didn’t have time to get it. They can’t seem to please her, although they promise trips to the toy store.

Because she won’t answer more than one question at a time, and she won’t volunteer information, nobody really knows what to do with her. She goes to school, mixes a bit with the special kids, and hatches a plan to escape. But she can’t tell lies, so she doesn’t.

“I keep my new secret plan in my brain and shut my mouth so no one will see it.
. . .
I make sure my mouth is closed so no one can see what I’m thinking.”

She doesn’t consider it lying to nod or shake her head No to answer a question she doesn’t want to answer truthfully.

“You know that, don’t you?” I’m not sure if I know that so I make sure my mouth is shut and nod.”

Or a trick many of us are guilty of:

“I don’t want to answer so I wait. Because sometimes if you don’t answer then someone will answer for you or someone will say something else to help you know what to say.”

She likes her therapist, Patrice, who’s been working with her all these years, but she’s wary.

“Patrice understands mostly everything that I tell her. She even understands some things that I don’t say. I like her a lot but she knows how to see into my brain. I have to be careful around her and keep my mouth closed when I’m not talking.”

Inside, she’s still 9 years old and wants to stay that way.

“in the mirror I see my face but it isn’t the face I want to see. I scowl.”

She likes numbers and equations and tries to figure herself out.

“Nothing is the same as it used to be. I am not Ginny anymore. I am not Ginny. I am (-Ginny). And that scares me, scares me, scares me. Because I don’t know that girl.”

Numbers and dates and birthdays and lists keep her a bit grounded.

“Sometimes I wonder if I love dates and numbers because when I’m deep in my brain they help me remember where I really am. They are like handles I can use to pull myself back up.”

She remembers so much of when she was little and she frequently kind of disappears into her brain, avoiding interacting with people. Mostly she manages at school (not always!), but she needs those “handles” sometimes when she’s alone at home.

“I don’t know if I’m in my room. I am awake but it’s dark out and it’s dark inside my brain. When I’m deep inside there it’s all the same place. All the houses I’ve ever been in are still in my head and so when I wake up at night with my eyes open I can still fall into any of them by accident.”

I haven’t discussed the story, which unfolds slowly, with a kind Forever Father and an increasingly frustrated and impatient Forever Mother (partly hormones, partly terror, I think). At one point, Maura loses the plot:

“She makes a loud breathing sound and hits her hand on the counter. I jump. “Why do you have to pull something like this? Don’t you have any control over yourself at all? Don’t you know right from wrong? We’ve taught you to have good habits and to respect other people.”

Okay, there’s three questions in a row, none of which can be answered, certainly not by an autistic teenager who already thinks she’s (-Ginny).

Ginny has some real adventures, tries to figure out how to get back to Gloria. I’ve read many times that almost no matter how abusive a mother is, most children are terrified to be separated from them and will choose to go back. I suspect what they really want is for that mother to fix herself. Ginny thinks often to herself that Gloria is “unreliable, impulsive, violent”, quoting words and phrases she’s heard social workers use. She keeps hoping she's improved.

So we tag along with her, heart in mouth, wishing she would speak up, explain herself, do what we know she really isn’t capable of doing.

The author explains later:

“We tend to listen to people who shout the loudest, who demand our attention. With all the noise, it’s easy to forget that others aren’t capable of making their needs known. Some people— displaced children, and children in the system, especially—often don’t believe that their needs matter at all. How could they, considering what society has taught them by their experiences?”

Ludwig has certainly given Ginny a wonderful voice. Thanks so much. And thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for a preview copy from which I’ve quoted (so quotes may have changed). This should probably be required reading for anyone dealing with children, so we understand when to cut them some slack! And thanks to Ludwig's adopted autistic daughter who inspired Ginny's love of Michael Jackson. :)

Ginny Moon is a fourteen year old, autistic girl, who's had a tough upbringing as her mother, Gloria, was an addict.

At age nine she was taken away from Gloria and put into foster homes. But Ginny kept running away.
Now, she's with the Moon's, who've adopted her. They are kind and especially her forever father, Brian, tries his best to understand Ginny, who sometimes behaves strangely.

As it's common with many autistic children, Ginny's communication skills are not the best.
Because we're hearing Ginny's inner thoughts though, her opinions and behaviours make sense, but outwardly she's challenging.

Benjamin Ludwig did a great job with this debut novel. Ginny's story feels authentic and is written in a matter-of-fact way. It reminds us about the importance of being patient and trying to understand and really listen.

Once every so often, I read a book that is so special and so beautiful that I am left in awe of the author's work, wondering how such a story was created.
That book becomes a memory that I will look back on and think of with a smile on my face, in the coming days, months, and even years.
Ginny Moon is the latest book to have that effect on me.
I adored this book from the first page.
Ginny Moon is a girl who has been in the care of her foster parents, Brian and Maura Moon (or as she calls them, her Forever Parents), for about 2 years.
We meet her just as she approaches her 14th birthday.
Ginny has autism and learning difficulties, and she was taken from her birth mother Gloria when she was 9 years old.
Gloria was deemed to be an unfit mother as she was a drug user and very often, abusive and neglectful.
This is the third home that Ginny has been welcomed into since being taken away from Gloria, and here, in what is known as the Blue House, she is safe and protected by her foster parents who adore her.
Ginny is going to be a big sister soon, but she misses her 'baby doll' that she used to care for when she lived with Gloria. It has been over 4 years of Ginny not knowing what happened to it, and given Gloria's sordid past, Ginny is forbidden to contact her.
However, she keeps thinking of her 'baby doll', and needs to find out if it is safe.
With the help of a school friend, Ginny manages to track down Gloria and contact her to ask for it back.
But once she does, the repercussions are damaging and dangerous..
Once Ginny's baby sister Wendy is born, there is even more friction bought into the family. Her foster parents struggle with juggling a newborn, whilst being as accommodating to Ginny as they can, even though her recent actions are making them reconsider all of theirs.
Ginny can't seem to find anyone that is willing to help her uncover the truth, and in contacting her birth mother again, she simply doesn't realise the harm that it's bound to cause...

This book had me hooked from the start. I couldn't put it down, and my mind kept reverting to it when I wasn't reading it. I finished it within 2 days as I needed to know how things turned out for Ginny. The story is told from her point of view in her very unique voice which wholly captivated me. She is at times as fragile as an eggshell, but is also very determined, and I was on her side for the entire duration of the story.
Reading the author's notes and discovering that he himself is a foster parent just added yo my over all love for the novel.
This is one of my favourite books that I have read this year, and I will definitely delve back into Ginny's world again soon. It is a book that you will long remember after the final page is read.

This is a very special book about a very special girl. Ginny Moon is 13 and autistic. Taken away from an abusive home at the age of 9, Ginny has been adopted by her Forever family and lives in the Blue House where she attends an understanding school along with a group of other special kids. She adores Michael Jackson, plays the flute in the school orchestra and loves playing special Olympics basketball. All seems to be going well for Ginny until her adoptive parents tell her they are having a baby. This sparks off Ginny's anxiety about her baby doll that she left behind in a suitcase at her birth Mum's when she was taken away by social services and starts to hatch plans for somehow getting her baby doll back.

Benjamin Ludwig has done a stunningly good job of getting inside the head of an autistic teenager. An adoptive parent of an autistic child himself and an avid special Olympics basketball fan, he has great insight not only into how the autistic child's brain works but also the hoops that parents looking after these children must go through. It takes a lot of love, patience and empathy to understand a normal child and a bit extra for a special child like Ginny, which must be so hard when parents are tired or sick. Ginny is a lovely character with a unique take on the world and the people around her. She's also brave and determined and fights for what she knows is right. Highly recommended!