Marc Haimes is set to adapt the coming of age middle-grade novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill.
Haimes recently co-wrote the animated film Kubo and the Two Strings.
The film, currently in development by Fox Animation, is expected to be a hybrid of live-action and animation.
Carlos Saldanha, the director of Rio, will produce.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon is geared toward middle grade readers, but based on the reception, it is finding an audience with parents and older readers, as well. The book is “as exciting and layered as classics like Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz,” according to The New York Times review from earlier this month.
The book currently has a 4.26 rating on Goodreads.
Barnhill also wrote 2014’s acclaimed children’s novel, The Witch’s Boy.
Synopsis of The Girl Who Drank the Moon:
Every year, Xan, a witch who lives in the forest, receives a baby as an offering from the people of a town nick-named the City of Sorrows. The people hope this sacrifice will keep her from attacking their town. Yet Xan is a kind witch, and she rescues the offered children, delivering them to good homes on the other side of the forest, feeding each baby with starlight on the journey.
But one year, Xan accidentally feeds one of the babies moonlight instead of starlight, granting the child magic. Instead of taking her to a family, she decides to raise this magical girl, Luna, on her own. As Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to appear while Xan is away.
At the same time, a young man from the City of Sorrows is determined to put an end to the child offerings by killing the witch, and it’s up to Luna to figure out what to do.
