The Moth Keeper is about two villages in the desert. One that follows a nocturnal lifestyle and the other that follows a diurnal lifestyle. Anya lives in the nocturnal village. She is training to be a moth keeper; which is a very important but lonely job in her community. We have The Giver vibes here. The land, the water, the roots, the plants, the flowers and all the people and animals rely on the pollen of the Night-Lily flower that blooms once a year. The moths are vital to this. 



Anya is singular and lonely but important to her community because of her position or task. She is young and susceptible to folly. One night the moths escape and Anya must decide if she truly is a moth keeper.



Kay O’Neill is a fresh voice. I would recommend anything they have written. It will be sure to stay with you long after you have finished the last page. Their work can be enjoyed by both children and adults.

K. O'Neill knows how to make even the quietest story so meaningful. A young girl works to find her place in her tribe as the new Moth Keeper which helps their healing planets to bloom. While she questions whether or not she's the right person for this job, she also comes across a wandering mystery related to the Spirit of the Moon.

I've loved every single book I've read by K O'Neill and The Moth Keeper is no exception! Gorgeous artwork that makes me want to just lay out under the stars (and really brings me back to the mountains of Aotearoa, also liked that note of inspiration in the back!).

The story pulled me in and is a wonderful tale as a reminder you're not alone, you have others to support you, and its okay to need a break and to need help. I think this is an important message I don't often see in books, and one that is really important for young people to have access to.

The world building is also lovely, I really enjoyed the moths. I don't think I've ever seen world building with moths kept by people (I wonder if it is done in our world at all?).

Overall, The Moth Keeper leaving me with the same warm fuzzy feeling as The Tea Dragon Society and the rest of their work.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC of The Moth Keeper! This story was absolutely the most cozy, wholesome piece of artwork ever! I absolutely loved it so much!

As a huge fan of the Tea Dragon Society and Princess Princess Ever After, I knew I had to pick up Moth Keeper ASAP, and I'm so glad I did. Filled with the author's signature art style, I was captivated by the character design, the sweeping desert landscapes, and the overall story that felt so contemplative and profound. This low-stakes cozy fantasy emphasizes community, support, finding meaning and purpose, and the wonderful discoveries that are made along the path of life. Delightful yet poignant, I can't wait for the physical copy to be on my bookshelves! A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House for a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for this ARC.

When I first started reading this I didn't completely know what I was getting into. The main character Anya took on this position of The Moth Keeper, a very important position to their village, but why? Why was this important? What was the message? I started to understand about half way through. Anya felt the burden was her own and was struggling with being alone every night. The message of the story being that we are not meant to go through life alone was subtle but very strong. I really enjoyed how it was written and the art work is just amazing. I think this story is an important one for children to read because we're not meant to go through life alone. We need people, whether they are partners or just friends who become family. The caring nature of the village was wonderful to see, definitely at the end.

The Moth Keeper perfectly captures the serenity and melancholy of a moonlit night. O'Neill creates a vibrant, nocturnal community that works in harmony to maintain their desert village. The village depends on moths, granted to them by the moon spirit, which pollinate the tree that is central to their way of life. Each night the moths must be taken into the desert and then guided home before dawn; a job reserved for the moth keeper. The novel focuses on the village's next moth keeper, Kit, to tell a story about isolation, alienation, and belonging. O'Neill's nuanced characters and exquisite background illustrations ground the narrative, while the novel's fantasy elements help drive the story.

What a comforting warm blankie of a book. I appreciated the way difficult issues were presented and handled. Thank you for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

A beautiful and moving graphic novel, both in artwork but also in the story it tells. This is a story of community, but also isolation and burnout. It’s about found family, friendship, and learning to lean on others when you need to. This story softly squeezes your heart, but by the end you’re only a bit bruised. Bruised but healing. A wonderful and lovely read.

The Moth Keeper has all of K. O’Neill’s iconic hallmarks but is a truly original story. It’s set in a fantasy world with creatures who follow a nocturnal schedule and rely on moths to cultivate their life sustaining plants. One individual is responsible for caring for the moths, and this story is Anya’s journey to becoming the Moth Keeper. It’s visually stunning, the characters are diverse, and the storytelling is beautiful.

Anya's story of becoming her people's newest moth keeper is kind, cozy, and comfortably melancholy. The artwork is absolutely stunning, and the author did an immaculate job of creating a beautiful world with gentle, relatable characters.

If you like graphic novels and cozy reads, I strongly recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this ARC.

Thank you Random House Graphic and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this great book. I enjoyed this beautiful story with exquisite art, great lessons, and some nostalgic feeling to it. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story.

Anya begins her apprenticeship as the next Moth Keeper and becomes responsible for shepherding the moths that make the night flowers bloom. Her job, though essential for her community's survival in the desert, requires her to spend long, lonely nights alone and separated from her friends, and eventually, the toll it takes on her psyche causes her to make a mistake that could endanger everyone she loves.

O'Neill delivers another charming tale of a young girl finding her way, though "The Moth Keeper" is more mature and folkloric in tone than "The Tea Dragon Society" and "Aquicorn Cove". The illustrations are gorgeous as always and do a marvelous job of showing off the worldbuilding. The muted earth colors perfectly convey the desert-at-night setting, and the textured lines add a gritty element that mirrors the hardships in the characters' lives. The frequent textless panels underscore the solitary nature of Anya's job and her loneliness as she travels across the desert. The artwork, while definitely a high point, unfortunately does not make up for the lack of substance in the plot, and the emotional highs and lows of the story do not quite reach the reader. Anya's story does not reach a conclusion as much as it just sort of ends.

Nevertheless, I'm sure O'Neill's devotees will adore "The Moth Keeper". Give this to middle grade readers who like quiet, dreamy stories.

This was a lovely but rather melancholy graphic novel about a teenage girl who has taken on a very important but isolating job for her community and finds it may be too heavy for her to handle on her own. Beautiful, soft colors as always with O'Neill (you may remember them from the Tea Dragon series). I will need to reflect on the story for a while to decide what I think about it, but it definitely made me cry in the lunchroom at work!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Graphic for the eARC in exchange for this honest review.

This graphic novel by K. O'Neill explores the importance of asking for help, supporting others, and finding where you belong or feel at home.

The art is very similar to The Tea Dragon Society, but the coloring is much darker and gives me a winter vibe ( although it is not set in the winter, but in a desert at night).

The story itself is simple with Anya taking on the responsibility of moth keeper and questioning who she is. There are many panels without words as it explores her loneliness and isolation in a vast desert, but the sections with other characters show warmth and love. I do wish we had gotten to know all the characters more, but with their basic characteristics it felt very fairytale or myth like. I just felt it was missing depth that it could have head and leaned more into the illustrations.

Interested to see if this story continues on like Tea Dragons as that would hopefully bring more characterization, but definitely recommend as an atmospheric read.

A gorgeous telling of burnout, feeling lost and alone...and finding something to ground you. Truly a magnificent story with magnificent illustrations. I could read Kay O'Neill's work the rest of my life and be satisfied <3

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a beautifully illustrated and colored graphic novel with a simple yet rich coming-of-age story at its heart. Recommended for all dreamers who feel a little bit alone sometimes.

I loved The Moth Keeper as much as I loved The Tea Dragon Society. The story is imaginative and heartfelt. The illustrations are so cute that they are almost cuddly. I would recommend thos book to cozy readers of any age.

I adored this - the story, the art style, the characters. O'Neill is one of my favourite discoveries of 2022 through the Tea Dragon Society books and I cannot wait for more like this from them!

More detailed review to come.

Another delightful graphic novel by K. O'Neill. They have become an auto buy for the library as well as my own personal collection. In the Night Village, the Moon Spirt has given the villagers the responsibility to care for the Moon Moths which help to keep the villages Night Flower alive. The current Moth Keeper is turning over the responsibility of the moths care to Anya, a young girl from the village who desires nothing more than contribute to the village that brought her in when she was a young child. The job of Moth Keeper is a lonely and isolating job, one that Anya finds difficult. She suddenly desires nothing more than to see the sun. A fateful decision leaves the moths and the village in jeopardy but with the help of the an ancient myth, Anya is able to find the strength within to find her true place within the village. O'Neill expresses so much in their art and the reader is able to understand the characters thoughts without words. As usual, O'Neill's art is sparsely beautiful. I loved the side characters - especially Estell and hop O'Neill will bless us with another novel from this world, much like the Tea Dragon Society trilogy.