Loved this book. So original! Will recommend. Great book club selection

Fantastic read! Different and interesting perspective and I am so glad the ending was not what I was anticipating!

This is a wonderful debut novel in which the reader is "in" the autistic child's mind. I could nor put this down---it was so charming. heart-breaking and poignant with quirky characters and the dark side of foster care. I cannot get Ginny Moon out of my mind.

This book was So interesting to get into the mind of Ginny, who is autistic. I know how hard it is to get through to an autistic child. There were some good suggestions, like only asking one question when talking to a child. It also showed from the parents point of view how hard it is to understand and deal with someone who autistic. A great read--intense at times, touching at times, frustrating at times. Well written and researched.

How do you explain a book like Ginny Moon? Do you tell everyone around you it's your book pick of the year? Does your enthusiasm spill over when you try to explain the story that is Ginny to your peers? " She's a 13 year old autistic girl who's survived the worst of abuses! She's been starved and beaten and held responsible for things way beyond her years! She has a baby doll that she left behind at her birth mother's and it's hard for her to focus on anything else! " This book forces you to literally "walk in Ginny's shoes". Mr. Ludwig has written a heartbreaking, amazing, inspiring novel that will leave you captivated and humbled and leave you rooting for Ginny to find a happy ending. Brilliant novel!!

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for giving me the opportunity to read, review and now tell everyone about how AMAZING this book is! And this is a debut novel to boot?

You will totally fall in love with Ginny Moon - a 14-year-old autistic girl who was removed from her birth mom because of abuse and neglect. She finally has a Forever Mom and Dad and lives in the Blue House. She goes to school, plays the flute, competes in Special Olympics, has her calendar so she knows exactly what will happen every day, and loves Michael Jackson. So why is she desperate to get kidnapped by her birth mom? Meanwhile, her adoptive parents are struggling - a new baby is in the picture, stress levels are high and Ginny is acting out more and more.

This book reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - an amazing peek into the world of an autistic child. But this book goes even further and explores the adoptive parents' world too - everything isn't always sunshine and roses. This book explores all those true feelings and emotions in such a wonderful way.

I can't say enough about this book - it is a must read! Mark your calendars for the release day and don't miss it!

I don't know if I even have words for how I felt about this book. My heart broke over and over again for this beautiful, imaginative and scared little girl named Ginny Moon. This book was unique and completely extraordinary amd Ginny's voice is one that everyone should hear.

Ginny Moon is about to become a three time loser. an adolescent with autism, Ginny has already had two severed adoptions and is causing trouble in her new adoptive home. Her "Forever Dad," Brian, works hard to bond with her but his health is fragile. Her Forever Mom, Maura, adopted Ginny when she thought that she could not have children of her own. Now she is about to deliver Baby Wendy and her patience for Ginny's unpredictable behavior is limited and cautious since she doesn't know how Ginny will react to the competition of a new sibling. Ginny ran away from her previous homes. What no one understand is that she is not running from but running to. She is desperate to get back to her birth mother, an abusive addict, and to save her "Baby Doll" who she fears is being neglected or abused. No one understands that Ginny's "Baby Doll" is not a toy but a little sister who, to the best of her ability, she mothered and protected from her mother's rages.

Ginny is obsessed with finding her birth family and, in the process steals, fibs, and breaks the rules to find her parent on the internet. Ginny's new location has been carefully concealed by her adoptive parents and the authorities for her protection, but in a few keystrokes, she blows the cover and invites her hellion mother back into her life.

I suppose this book will be classified as YA since Ginny is 14 at the time of the telling. It should extend to adults, especially those who work with or parent children with autism. What comes through is that Ginny is actually very smart, cagey might be a better description. Within her comprehension, she tries to follow rules but it is difficult for her and, as no one has ever dug deep enough to understand her real motivations for her bad behavior, she is trapped in a peculiar cage of her own deeply felt needs and the rules imposed on her by school, parents, and a sympathetic therapist.

Patrice, the therapist, is a sympathetic character but she is too easily manipulated by her client. She, frankly, lets Ginny get away with murder. Maura, Ginny's adoptive mother, is cast as the heavy in the story. Although she has adopted this "special needs" child with an open heart, her instincts to protect her newborn infant from Ginny's unleashed behavior, turn her against the child.

IF you saw the movie, "Rainman", there is a bit of Dustin Hoffman's Raymond in Ginny. Like Raymond, Ginny tries to help her sibling and it goes wrong or her motives are misunderstand. Without the real ability to explain herself, Ginny is always on the outside looking in. IN fact, when she meets her "Baby Doll," a younger version of herself without handicaps, she believes that her identity has been stolen and that she is no longer "Ginny" but "-Ginny," a cypher on the wrong side of a human equation.

While there is a certain degree of "After School Special" in this book, there is also a real attempt to explain the behavior of children on the spectrum and how difficult it is for the people who care for them to love and care for them in an appropriate way.

Ginny is a teenager with autism. She is also in foster care, but desperately wants to return to her birth mother so she can be reunited with her Baby Doll. As more of Ginny's life before she was placed with her foster parents is revealed, it becomes clear why Ginny would plot to return to an unsafe situation. Ginny is a unique and interesting character. She makes one wrong decision after another, but you'll want to root for her anyway. The book gives insight into a character who sees the world a little different. This is a story of a girl finding her voice and her place in the world. It also shows that even an unconventional and imperfect family can become one's Forever Home.

This is one you will want to read straight through. This story has its highs and lows, with the reader cheering for Ginny Moon along the way. It is very insightful into the life of a young autistic girl.

"Well, dang!" is a favorite phrase of Ginny "Moon," who now lives with a "forever" father and mother, as opposed to her biological mom. A 13-year-old girl is hard enough for an adult author to channel, but a neglected, emotionally abused, autistic girl, kicked out of one foster home after another, is another. We love Ginny, but it's hard for teachers and guardians to feel the love, given her propensity for making terrible decisions because she doesn't understand that not all words are meant to be taken literally.

Her preoccupation with the baby doll in the suitcase under her bed, left when she was taken from her mother's train-wreck of a home, is a source of frustration for everyone. Despite a no-contact rule, despite changing Ginny's last name and trying to keep her hidden from Gloria, her drug-addicted biological mom, Ginny finds way to contact Glory. She needs to know where her baby doll is.

After the story of the yippy dog she tried to keep quiet in the suitcase, it's painful to read some of these scenes, and some things, the reader can readily guess, even though the adults in Ginny's world are maddeningly obtuse. Is it really that hard to communicate with an autistic child? Yeah, it must be. I'd say Benjamin Ludwig has done a stellar job of capturing the road blocks and misunderstandings.

It's hard to discuss the plot without spoilers. The subject matter, the character of Ginny, is totally 5-or-more stars. The novel itself, though, dragged on in places. Maybe I've been reviewing too many anthologies full of short stories, because I find myself, lately, book after book, thinking "too many details," cut to the chase, please.

My Kindle is packed full of great lines I highlighted. My NetGalley queue is packed full of titles I owe reviews on. I love Ginny Moon, and I love her reasoning, in the stunning climax of the novel, and where it leads her.

All right. I'm going to say five stars, but if I were the editor, I'd have trimmed and tightened this fresh, daring, original, poignant, and inspiring tale.

Ginny Moon is an unforgettable character. Despite her flaws, rather than because of them, she engaged me from the first page. I came to understand her and her autism in a more fleshed-out way than any autistic character I've encountered before, and I rejoiced with her in her triumphs, even as I shared her frustration when she was unable to make herself properly understood by others. This is a must-read.

4.1 - as a character, Ginny really gets a grip on the reader; it's illuminating and sometimes bewildering to see the world through her eyes and experiences.

What an amazing read! Benjamin Ludwig has written a book that is impossible to put down. Ginny is fascinating, childlike and wise beyond her years. Ludwig has managed to tug at the heart while also conveying the frustration of life with autism. Seeing Ginny's life at home, at school, and at her therapy appointments made me feel as though I were living the story. An excellent book for book clubs and groups, certain to lead to lively discussion. Thank you for the gift of these words and characters. I'll be talking about this book for a long time to come.

4.5 Stars Rounded Up

Poignant. Unique. Unforgettable. Heartbreaking. Heart-mending. Inspired. Lovely.
I was captivated by Ginny Moon’s delightful character, her inner dialogue, her view of her world, her abilities despite her disability. She charmed me right into her world.

Ginny Moon wasn’t always Ginny Moon, but she’s been with her newest set of Forever Parents living in the Blue House for a while. It isn’t her first Forever family, but the last two didn’t, well, last. She was nine years old when they removed her from Gloria’s home, her birth mother, and now she’s thirteen years old. Almost fourteen. Her Forever Mother is going to have a baby relatively soon, and the more they focus on the coming baby, the more Ginny can’t forget her Baby Doll that she had to leave behind the night they took her away from Gloria, her Baby Doll left behind in a suitcase under her bed. She doesn’t understand, can’t really believe that no one ever found her there.

With a new baby coming, these thoughts are ever-present, and she needs to find her, the need becomes compulsive. The more adults want to talk to her about the soon-to-arrive baby, the more Ginny struggles to be heard, understood. The plastic electronic baby they’ve given her to prepare for having a new baby in the house is definitely not helping. As the crying gets louder and louder it triggers anxiety for Ginny, reminders that somewhere out there is her Baby Doll.

I am in my room holding my quilt and crying. Because I am fourteen years old. Right this minute. Right now. And I’m not supposed to be. I’m supposed to be nine years old and keeping my Baby Doll safe. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be nine years old.

She was so young, they think, they searched and never finding a baby doll, they simply offered to buy her a new one.

Things are not going as smoothly as hoped for.

The struggle to understand another human being, the struggle to be understood creates frustration on both sides, and as time passes and the more she tries to find where her Baby Doll is, the more dismissive the adults in her life become. The more dismissive they become, the more Ginny feels she has no place that she can calls her own, there’s no place where she feels she belongs.

We are all so far from perfect, we all have our own strengths, our own disabilities. Yet, we can’t really get through this life alone, we need each other.

But that’s what families are for, that is what we are supposed to do. We’re perfectly imperfect. It doesn’t seem to matter much if those families are bonded by blood, or simply by love and circumstance, it is love that is the key to that bond. Love, by definition, must be accepting and nurturing of our differences.

Benjamin Ludwig’s The Original Ginny Moon is an outstanding debut! I couldn’t put it down.


Pub Date: 02 May 2017


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harlequin – Park Row

Every now and then, a book comes along that is totally original, and moves you deeply. This is that book, unique with autistic teenager, Ginny Moon, who is living with her "Forever" parents. After being removed from an abusive home, Ginny finds herself in her third home, but will she stay once her Forever mom, Maura, has her own baby. There is no way I can do justice in describing the book; all I can say is I highly recommend this book, truly deserving five stars.

After reading The Original Ginny Moon, it's difficult to believe Ludwig hasn't been publishing bestselling novels before now! If you're looking for a novel that's remarkable, heartbreaking, surprising, and informative, look no further! Ludwig's Ginny Moon shines a light on how a teenage girl with autism who grew up with an abusive, drug-addicted birth mother and got removed thinks and acts. Even after she's in a safe Forever Home, she reminisces about life with her Birth mom and Baby Doll with rose-colored glasses. This novel will surely keep you on your toes and it's not one you'll quickly forget!

Ginny Moon is a fresh, incredible, poignant debut that will linger long after you've finished the last page.

I want to preface my review by saying that I am perhaps one of the hardest-to-please readers of contemporary fiction out there. I rarely find a book of contemporary fiction that I enjoy enough to actually recommend to friends.

With that caveat out of the way, I'm happy to say that this book is pretty fantastic, and I will happily recommend it to others.

This book hooked me from the very start, and I finished it in almost record time. Ginny Moon's voice feels authentic and raw, and while I feared that her single-minded obsession with her Baby Doll might become <i>tedious</i>, as the layers of the onion peel away, you begin to understand more and more why this particular subject in many ways defines and dominates who Ginny is. Her story is affecting without ever being cloying or maudlin; because Ginny's voice is so spare, we are able to feel the heartbreak of neglect and the hardships of the foster care system without ever feeling as if we are being pandered to or emotionally manipulated by the author. You will root for Ginny and be frustrated by her at the same time -- much as the adults in her life are. You may even be a touch sad, as I was, when the novel is over -- not because the conclusion isn't satisfying (because it is), but because you enjoyed the time you spent with Ginny so much.

The only warning I will give is that sensitive cat lovers (of which I am one myself) may find some upsetting content here. It is not dwelt on long, but I did put the book aside for a moment and reminded myself that it is fiction, and that no cats were harmed in the making of this novel.

Recommended -- a very engaging look at an important subject.