This book! Why have I not read this earlier? I’m so mad at myself right now! Let me tell you why you need to read this book!

Ginny Moon is a fourteen year old girl. She is autistic. She is in foster care, because her birth mother could not take care of her. She is now in her fourth forever family, one that will love her! But Ginny has a secret, one that no other knows, so even though she knows that she should not go back to her mother’s apartment because her mother might hurt her, she really has to go back there. She needs to make things right.

So, she makes her big plan of escape and she keeps her mouth shut, so no one can find out. She has tried to escape from every forever family home she’s been, because of that secret. She really likes the Blue House but she needs to go back. So she tries to find ways to get back.

Benjamin Ludwig has done a wonderful job in creating Ginny’s character! It’s pretty clear that he understands how the mind of an autistic child works and what are the aspects this child, this person needs in their life to keep it smooth. Through his book we learn that children or teens like Ginny need to have stability in their lives. They need a routine that does not change unexpectedly. They need to have a schedule set up for each day and for the coming days, so as they know what is coming their way and they can be prepared. The morning routine must be the same. The breakfast must be the same and the one expected, because otherwise they will not be able to handle it. There have to be lists with everything that needs to be done. There have to be rules that must be followed. If there are no rules, things can go ugly pretty easily. Even for the simplest of things, like how much can a person eat.

One really important aspect of the life of an autistic person is their family or close environment. They need to be surrounded by people that love them and care for them, by people who understand how their mind works and how they respond to emotions. They need a stable and comforting environment, like the one Ginny seems to have in the Blue House, until the coming of a new baby made it all so unstable. The coming of the new baby triggered some reactions not only inside Ginny’s mind, but in the whole family. Her forever mum is about to have a baby and she never before had a baby, which makes her really anxious on how Ginny would react around the baby and what could possibly happen to their family. The whole new baby thing is new to her too and affects her reactions greatly. The author makes a terrific job of painting this all out for us to understand what it means for everyone in the Moon family.

I really liked the breakthrough that Ginny was able to make in the end. She has learned how to advocate for herself, which is something that may be the easiest thing for everyone else, but a big issue for a special child! At least something really good came out of all this and make a couple more!

You should all read this book because it is emotional story that could be true, but thankfully it isn’t. You should all read this story because it will teach you to stop and listen to what other people have to say. To what your children have to say. You should read this book because I loved it and I want you to love it too!

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Ginny Moon is an autistic girl who was taken from her mother when she was 9.  Now, at 14, she is with her fourth “forever family”.  However, in all those years, she hasn't been able to stop worrying about her baby doll that was left behind when the police took her away from her mom, and she is determined to find a way to check on her baby doll to make sure it is all right.

The circumstances of Ginny and those around her were heartbreaking, and I think they merit being the topic of books.  However, I am not 100% sold on the execution of this particular novel.  I am not sure how much of it was because the book is from Ginny's POV, but I thought it was clear from the beginning what the situation was with Ginny's baby doll, and I was surprised it took the adults in her life so long to figure it out.  <spoiler>I also didn't understand why learning that the baby doll had a name was why the adults suddenly realized the truth.  All the dolls in my family have always had names.</spoiler>  Also, the “forever” mother's reactions to Ginny just didn't seem realistic.

Ginny is living with her Forever Parents and is attempting to adjust to a life of stability, school, and the impending birth of her Forever Sister.  Ginny's progress is hampered by her obsession with the safety of her "Baby Doll," and her efforts to communicate are hampered by her autism diagnosis.  Ginny's frustration and fear causes her to secretly reach out to her birth mother.  The resulting plot line is equal parts heartbreaking over how poor and careless decisions on a parent's part can devastate a child's life, admiration for Ginny's persistence and dedication for the safety of others over her own happiness and well-being.

This book was discussed in depth as a guest favorite on episode 167 of What Should I Read Next, titled, "Reading is supposed to be FUN."

Wonderful first-person insight into the mind of a child on the autism spectrum. Beautifully written and incredibly moving.

This is one of the best books that I have read in a long time! I could not put it down. I loved learning more about the main character as the book revealed information about her. Because I was the reader, I knew more about Ginny than the other characters in the book did, and I wanted to help the adults around her understand what she was thinking so badly! Overall, Ginny Moon was amazing - it was wonderfully written characters, a dash of mystery and a lot of heart.

Believe all the hype!!! This is a great book it will make you laugh and cry and make you sad and angry at times but beautifully written book about autistic Ginny Moon and her hopes at a forever home. Even though forever mom made me mad a couple times I still enjoyed it very much!

This book should be savored and enjoyed! 

Em Eldridge's narration was fabulous she really brought us into Ginny's head. Highly recommend the audio!

Ginny Moon, a 14-year-old autistic child, is in her fourth forever home. She likes her new forever mom and forever dad. They are even having a baby but she needs to get back to Gloria, her mother. Ginny left her Baby Doll in a suitcase under the bed and she knows that Gloria is not taking care of her. Ginny always took care of Baby Doll. Ginny herself was abused badly by Gloria. She was underfed and hurt and she is worried the same will happen to her Baby Doll. No one understands why she keeps trying to run back to Gloria. She plans and plans, all the while trying to deal with all her emotions. Will she get back to her Baby Doll?

I just loved Ginny. She is such a wonderfully written character with such depth. I loved how the author let us into her head and understand the ways she was figuring things out.  The story plays out in Ginny’s voice. There is no other narrator and I loved how it took us through her struggles and her final realization. I do have to say that I did figure out pretty early on what the truth was but that in no way took away from reading the whole story. You will fall in love with the wonderful Ginny Moon.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy of this lovely book.

I honestly could tell by the writing of the first 2 chapters that it wouldn't be a good fit for our box and had to put it down.  I may read it again in the future!

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing this advanced reading copy.  Ginny Moon is fourteen and autistic.  She was removed from her drug addicted mother five years ago, and now she lives with her Forever Parents.  She can't stop obsessing about her Baby Doll that she left behind, and she will go great lengths to make sure Baby Doll is safe.  Ginny narrates her story, drawing readers into her unique, autistic thoughts and reasoning.  The secondary characters are believable because they have their flaws.  They all try to do what is best for Ginny.  Sometimes that means different things to different people, and sometimes they make mistakes.  Ginny's Forever Parents are extremely patient, yet they have moments of exasperation.  These characters feel very real; there is nothing contrived here.

I really loved how this book took me into the world of an autistic young girl who is trying to deal with her new 'forever' parents as well as find a way to deal with the rest of the world. Not to mention that she has a baby that she cares about that was left with her mother. So much happens, and it is all handled so well, that I can hardly begin to explain why I loved the book so much. I read it aloud with my wife (we do that a lot) and we both agreed that it was great for providing a taste of what autism must be like to the person that has it. The struggle that her forever parents go through, and the urge to contact her birth mother drive the story onward, through many ups and downs, but to a very satisfying conclusion. The real surprise was at the end, when I read the author's bio and found that he is also the adopted parent of an autistic child. No wonder he could tell the story so well. I hope this book gets the attention that it deserves.

Ginny is a teenager and has autism, which would already easily make her quite the heroine. This was a very thoughtful look at her transitions in life and to an adoptive family.

Opening line:
"The plastic electronic baby won't stop crying."

This is an engaging story told from the viewpoint of fourteen-year old Ginny who has autism. 

*THIS IS NOT A YOUNG ADULT BOOK OR A BOOK FOR YOUNG READERS.*  

Ginny was forcibly removed from a bad situation by police where her mom was a drug addict and prostitute and the boyfriend too touchy. Ginny has issues with police, men and trusting adults now. Luckily, she's adopted by a nice couple who she refers to as her FOREVER FAMILY. He Forever Dad tries to help Ginny and listens to her, as does her Forever Mom, who is pregnant.
Ginny has friends in her special needs class and teachers and a principal who are there to help as well as a therapist. So you would think she's safe, right? That she's landed in a good place, right? 

The adults in the story are so frustrating. They don't listen to Ginny. Or at least, they don't hear what she's saying. She has a big secret and she needs to go back to her old apartment and make sure everyone is okay. But no adult in her life believes her or listens to her. Ginny does have some problems communicating her needs, obviously with her handicap, but only one person takes the time to slow down and listen and that person is getting paid to listen. 

Ginny is pretty smart too and catches on quickly, which makes it almost believable that she can do the things she wants to do as part of her plan to get back to her apartment and check on things. 
I loved the part where Ginny stands up for herself and sees where her life could be and where it was. 
There is a lot of swearing (lots of "F" words) from the adults and all of it around Ginny. I found that frustrating too. 

I'm not sure I can recommend this book. I know the reader gets to be inside the head of a special needs teen but I dislike how the adults are all portrayed as someone to distrust. 

And yes, I can speak from some experience as I grew up with a handicap brother. And yes,I realize that's different than raising one but please don't discredit how siblings are affected. I love my brother an his happy smile and quirks. He had his hard times, too. The wind bothered him enough that he had to headphones when a storm kicked up. He didn't understand when he lost a game and had a melt down. He was smart. He could remember names and people. The elementary school he attended taught the students to be kind to my brother and share. He students and teachers were accepting of him and other special needs students. I've seen the other side too, of meanness and misunderstanding. 

All children need a safe place. I'm so happy the author was able to adopt a child who needed him and a safe place to live.

Language: yes
Violence: yes
Sex: mentioned

Thanks to netgalley for the early read.

Ginny Moon is both difficult to read and compelling. The reader feels anxious for Ginny, the autistic protagonist without fully realizing why. The author, Benjamin Ludwig, slowly brings us into Ginny's world and the way she sees it. At times, we fear for her because she can't always tell what is good for her. She makes some terrible choices. But when her past life of abuse and neglect is finally revealed, we understand the motives for Ginny's behavior. I could not put this book down. When I finished this book, I felt like I understood autism much better.

This book is one that grabbed me right away because of the description and the reviews. "Meet Ginny. She’s fourteen, autistic, and has a heart-breaking secret… Ginny Moon is trying to make sense of a world that just doesn’t seem to add up…." I had to know what Ginny's secret was, and I was really intrigued by the idea of an autistic narrator- while there have been a couple of well known books from that perspective, I haven't read a book like this before and wanted to see how that might work as a narrative choice.

Great perspective
From the start this book's perspective grabbed my attention, Ginny is autistic and it was both refreshing and challenging ( see more about this in the "Things I Struggled With" section) to read a book from such a unique perspective. Generally this is a sub genre that I really enjoy - a child narrator who doesn't quite understand what is going on, such as in "Room "by Emma Donoghue (which I loved!) In a similar way, this story has emotional weight and complexity because it is from a child's perspective. As intrigued as I was, I was also anxious starting this book. I am not familiar with very many autistic people, and I feared that Ginny's autism would be a poorly used plot device - thankfully that was not my experience with this book *at all*. Ginny's story and the narrative choices of the author were given extra weight, in my opinion, by the fact that in the acknowledgements the author mentions that he and his wife adopted a teenager with autism. Reading this book, it is both clear and important that the author has such a hands on experience with someone experiencing the same symptoms as Ginny.

Heartbreakingly frustrating
The emotion that I couldn't shake after reading when I would step away from this book was complete and total frustration that just made my heart ache. Reading I felt frustration for every character in the story. Of course for Ginny, but also for her adoptive parents, and then for the school workers, and her counselors, her classmates. It is undoubtedly frustrating at times to raise or assist someone with autism, and the author did a good job of showing how and why that happens. But more frequently during this book, that feeling was not directed at Ginny, but towards a system, and our our human nature, that seemed to constantly be working against her. I wanted even more from this part of the book. I wanted more of an understanding of how the adult characters- particularly her adoptive parents who were raising someone with autism that they adopted in a particularly difficult situation, but because the story is told through Ginny's eyes, we only really get the feelings that they openly say aloud.

Things I Struggled With
As I said at the beginning of the post, while I was initially drawn to reading this book because of my interest in an autistic narrator, ultimately it was challenging to read a book from her perspective. I had a hard time getting into "Ginny Moon" because of the narrative voice. I felt this way also with "Room" at times. In both cases, it was a brilliant choice by the author to have the child be the narrator. It certainly makes for a more interesting read and a more challenging book to write as well - but as a reader, it is hard to balance what I can acknowledge as deft choices by the author and my own desires as a reader. I had to work pretty hard sometimes to get into the book at the beginning. However once I was into the story, I would say for the last third of the book, I had a hard time putting it down! Otherwise I really enjoyed "Ginny Moon" and had few moments where reading it felt like a struggle.

I don't read a lot of adult books but I always am on the lookout for books featuring protagonists with Autism, especially girls as I feel they're very underrepresented! I'm also super pleased to discover the author was writing from his own experiences of having adopted a teen on the autism spectrum, and you can really tell how personal and well researched the book is. So pleased by that. 

Although, altogether, I have to admit the book was difficult to read due to a bucketful of awful featuring parents. Even Ginny's adopted-parents ended up making horrible and screwed up decisions that just made the book super stressful. Obviously books aren't supposed to be happy frolics in the park! But it just seemed somewhat frustrating to read about this parents who should know how to look after an ASD girl but will at times be super ableist and condescending because Ginny's being herself and not meeting their expectations. 

I just honestly felt every adult was rather dense and awful, although Ginny's adopted-dad was pretty lovely but ended up having a heart-attack from trying to take care of Ginny?! I kind of felt there were a lot of negative messages here about how hard it is to look after people with ASD. It can be hard, of course. But the negativity piled up and made me super sad. If this book is supposed to encourage people to take care of autistic individuals, it kind of sheds more negativity than it does positivity unfortunately.

Tension was A+ though! Even if the pacing was slow.

I also thought it was a good portrayal of Autism! It really gets into Ginny's thought process and I just really appreciated this! ASD runs in my family, so I have a lot of experience too and it's nice to see accurate portrayals. Ginny basically needs 24/7 surveillance. The only thing is: her ASD tendencies are muddied by the fact she was super abused growing up. So don't go reading this thinking: "Oh this is how ASD people think." Because you've got a ton of psychological PTSD mixed in there as well.

I think this was a fabulous exploration of Autism, adoption, and a discussion of what being "wanted" means. It wasn't an easy book to read, but I did like the ending. I just wish it'd shown more positives of autism.

A fresh and necessary perspective. Ludwig gives the reader the thrilling (and at turns frustrating) opportunity to inhabit the brain of Ginny Moon. Also, bonus: a lesson in empathy and understanding.

This debut novel was a slam dunk, this author was amazing. This novel was so good I couldn't put it down easily. I absolutely loved it and it is one of the best books I've read in a long long time

When Ginny Moon is 13 years old, she is placed in her third “forever home.”  When she was nine years old, she was taken away from her drug addicted and abusive mother and sent to a series of foster homes before she finds the Moons – a family that loves her and is able to work with her quirky (autistic) personality.  That is, until they begin to prepare her for the birth of her new sibling.

This impending birth has triggered something from Ginny’s past and even Ginny isn’t exactly sure what that is.  All she knows is that she must get back her “baby doll” which she has left in her mother’s home in a suitcase, under the bed.  As Ginny’s behavior becomes more and more erratic, her “forever mom” becomes more and more worried about the safety of her new baby and completely disengages from Ginny while her forever father tries his best to understand Ginny’s compulsive behavior.

This novel is a remarkable debut and the voice of Ginny is unique and authentic.  Book club readers will not be able to put it down and will spend hours discussing family love.

Oh Ginny Moon; she just worms her way into your heart. I struggled a bit with this at first, but ended up loving the way that the author made you feel equal parts frustrated with and sympathetic to Ginny.