BOOK REVIEW: Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

Ginny Moon's painfully honest narrator is Ginny, a girl with autism living in a world that just doesn't add up. Five years ago, the police forcibly removed her from the home of her abusive mother Gloria.
Now fourteen and in her 4th Forever Home, Ginny is hell bent on returning to her mother's apartment- despite knowing how dangerous that could be- to find something she insists she hid under her bed.
Ginny will steal, lie, plan her own kidnapping and tear apart every shred of the normal, stable life she currently has, just to find what she has left a the farthest edge of forever...

Publisher: HQ

Pages: 357

Benjamin Ludwig was inspired to write Ginny Moon due to his own experience of adopting a young girl with autism. I felt that his first hand experience shone through in the book and added an extra layer of authenticity.
Ginny is in her fourth Forever Home after having been forcibly removed from her birth mother, Gloria for her own safety. Although now experiencing a safe and stable environment, Ginny is determined to return to her mother's house as she has left something under the bed and she can't rest until she has been able to retrieve it.
The whole situation is terrify
ing for Ginny's foster parents who have done all they can to keep her safe and hidden from Gloria. This brings a great deal of tension to the book and almost a feeling of helplessness as you watch the situation unfold.
I think that Benjamin Ludwig offers a very realistic  and honest presentation of the care system and of the tensions and struggles involved. The author also explores autism with care and humility. It is a large part of the book but he does not present it as the sole focus of Ginny. She is more than being an autistic girl but the author instead shows how Ginny's autism affects how she deals with and processes the world around her. I think sometimes when an autism label is applied, the person it is being applied to can almost be forgotten and I think that Benjamin Ludwig challenges that practice in this book.
Ginny Moon is a heart-breaking read and it left me with so much to think about, what a fantastic debut.

Many thanks to HQ for sending me a copy of this book to review.