The Original Ginny Moon

by Benjamin Ludwig

Paperback, 2018

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Genres

Publication

HQ (2018), 368 pages

Description

Meet Ginny Moon. She's mostly your average teenager--she plays flute in the high school band, has weekly basketball practice, and reads Robert Frost poems in English class. But Ginny is autistic. And so what's important to her might seem a bit... different: starting every day with exactly nine grapes for breakfast, Michael Jackson, her baby doll, and crafting a secret plan of escape. After being traumatically taken from her abusive birth mother and moved around to different homes, Ginny has finally found her "forever home"--a safe place with parents who will love and nurture her. This is exactly what all foster kids are hoping for, right? But Ginny has other plans. She'll steal and lie and exploit the good intentions of those who love her--anything it takes to get back what's missing in her life. She'll even try to get herself kidnapped. Told in an extraordinary and wholly original voice, Ginny Moon is at once quirky, charming, heartbreaking, and poignant. It's a story about being an outsider trying to find a place to belong and about making sense of a world that just doesn't seem to add up. Taking you into the mind of a curious and deeply human character, Benjamin Ludwig's novel affirms that fiction has the power to change the way we see the world.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member muddyboy

This is the story of a fourteen year old autistic girl who is living with foster parents. She was taken away from her mother because of abuse and neglect. While with her mother she took care of her "baby doll" and she is desperate to get back to her mother to assume this role again. The thrust of

the book is her trying to reach her mother who she is not allowed to contact and her foster parents and authorities trying to thwart this. This is a well written intriguing book which I thought had a fresh plot.

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LibraryThing member indygo88

Ginny Moon is a 14-year-old girl with autism. After several rough years of living in not-so-ideal circumstances with her natural mother, she is removed from the home, is placed in a series of foster homes, and is now trying to adapt to a hopefully "forever" family. But certain things are eating

away at Ginny, and until these things are rectified, no one can settle in peacefully.

This is quite an impressive debut novel, by an author who has personal experience with raising an adopted daughter of his own with autism. Ginny Moon's story is unique in that not only does Ludwig write about the struggles & joys of raising a child with autism, but also the challenges of a complicated past which manages to keep finding its way into Ginny's everyday life through the eyes of a somewhat unconventional teenager. With realistic characterization, as a reader you will experience an emotional spectrum: fear, frustration, anger, and confusion, but also awe, surprise, humor, and hope. Recommended read.

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LibraryThing member shazjhb

Fabulous book. Consistent which is difficult. Will make my top 20 list.

LibraryThing member quirkylibrarian

Read all in a sitting, though I had to keep jumping up and walking around to relieve the stress. Ludwig is so insightful and uncompromising. I felt like I had a real insider's view of autism. Heartbreaking, horrifying, tender.

LibraryThing member jmoncton

The title character of this story is Ginny Moon, a 14-year old autistic girl who is on her 4th foster family after being rescued from her mother at the age of 9. Although she finally seems to have found the perfect 'forever' family, Ginny has a secret and knows that she must try to run away.

The

charm behind this story is that it is told through Ginny's unique voice. Seeing our world and our complicated social interactions through the eyes of an autistic child brought both humor and heartbreak to this story. Definitely one of my favorite books of the year!

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LibraryThing member bookappeal

Wow. Benjamin Ludwig provides a captivating and wholly believable interpretation of how the brain of an autistic young teen who has been through her own share of trauma might cope with the world. Ginny Moon is as happy as can be expected with her "forever parents" after a disastrous few years with

her impulsive and untrustworthy mother and several foster homes in between. But Ginny's brain doesn't work like ours and no one understands the reasons behind her erratic behavior - behavior that may lead to placing her in a different home now that her parents have a new baby on the way. You will be sympathetic towards Ginny but she'll grate on your nerves too. Ludwig's theoretical view of the autistic mind may or may not be accurate scientifically but it's downright amazing in this fictional character study.

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LibraryThing member mootzymom

Amazing! This us the best book I've read in months. Written from Ginny's mind as she struggles to find her "baby doll" and where her forever home is. I was floored abd completely obsessed with the characters. I truly applaud the author for writing something different and poignant. Highly recommend

to everybody!

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LibraryThing member shizz

I guess Mark Haddon set the benchmark for novels embracing autism. So for any writer setting out with the intention of creating such a work it’s always going to be a big ask and for a debut writer it might pose questions as to their sanity! I fear I approach such works with anxiety as the subject

is one I’m close to. My nephew is autistic. And he breaks my heart. I’ve never met such a pure, gentle soul as he, incapable of an unkind thought and more vulnerable for it. So I worry that when I come to read book about autism I may not be as objective as someone more removed from the subject.

When I began to read the book and realised it was narrated in the first person I started to worry more. For how can anyone ever really, truly understand the mind of an autistic person? However I am more than happy to admit that my fears were unfounded and I did enjoy this book. It is not just a novel about autism it is also about fostering and adoption and the issues faced by the adoptee, the adoptive parents and the birth parents. And I think this book goes a long way to raise the consciousness of these issues. The book is set in the USA where protocols and structures are different from the UK but the feelings and emotions experienced are universal.

What I liked about this book is that there is no attempt to sugar coat the situations. At times it is plain uncomfortable reading but that is the point surely? There is a frustration too as you beg the adults in this book to understand Ginny and that is one of the flaws for me; that it took so long for the root of Ginny’s desire to return to her mother to be understood by the therapist at the very least. But then of course there wouldn’t have been a story!! This is fiction not fact so I need to respect that.

I realise too that the writer has drawn upon a wealth of experience from conversations with other parents at Special Olympics basketball practice and in the true spirit of an enthusiastic debut novelist has sought to include them all in this book which was possibly another flaw. Too many ’incidents’?

But, hey, I’m beginning to sound like a representative from ’Nitpickers.com”. This is a captivating book. It is well written. And, as Mark Haddon did in ‘The Curious Incident……..’ there is a heart wrenching accuracy in showing how important numbers and colours and routines and schedules are to an autistic person. This book will spiral it’s way into your heart. And you will embrace Ginny Moon and root for her every step of the way. It flies a flag for autism and adoption. I inevitably return to my nephew and if this book helps others understand and accept him then it will be the best book in the world right now. For every adopted person and every autistic person in this world today I hope it is a best seller.

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LibraryThing member cburnett5

3.5 stars

I liked The Original Ginny Moon, but the book would have benefitted from more editing. The base story is good, but the story line is fairly repetitive and should have wrapped up long before it did. Benjamin Ludwig and his wife adopted a teenager with autism, and his insight into an

autistic child’s behavior is insightful. The main character, Ginny Moon, is autistic and cannot come to terms with the idea that she will never live with her birth mother again. She has lived in numerous foster homes and tries to leave each one in search of her birth mother, not understanding that her birth mother cannot raise her. While Ginny tries to communicate her anger and hopelessness , she struggles to find the right way to explain her distress. I found that part of the book very informative and was fascinated with his insight into Ginny’s mind. I did enjoy the book and was glad I read it, but I wished numerous times that it was shorter. Thanks to Park Row Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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LibraryThing member Loried

I’m so glad I got the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Original Ginny Moon. Ginny is a wonderful character on the autism spectrum, and I enjoyed hearing her voice as narrator. The book had a great mix of humor, suspense and drama. I flew through the book, anxious to see what would

happen. I think it helped me appreciate the lives of those with autism and to admire people who choose to adopt older children with problems. The characters were realistically complex; all of them had flaws and good points. I’m glad that the bad events in Ginny’s life were only alluded to; it made it much more pleasant to read. The reader knows enough to appreciate how Ginny evolved. This would be a great selection for book discussion groups. I highly recommend this beautifully written book.

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LibraryThing member Twink

Benjamin Ludwig's debut novel, Ginny Moon is already one of my favourite reads for 2017.

Fourteen year old Ginny is autistic. After some false starts, she is in what is hoped to be her Forever Home with her new Forever Mom and Forever Dad. At nine, Ginny was removed from her Birth Mother's care

after she was found physically and mentally abused. She likes things precise - time, questions, the order of things. But most of all she wishes she had her Baby Doll from her mother Gloria's house. She worries constantly about it and won't accept any substitutes. She needs to look after Baby Doll and will do anything to make sure it is okay. To do that, she must find Gloria.

In the author's words: "...the rawness of her hunger - the utter fierceness of her desire to return to the place from which she'd come..."

Ginny Moon is told entirely from Ginny's viewpoint - and in Ginny's voice. That voice is compelling and heart-breaking. There is something in her past that the adults in her life do not seem grasp. I had a looming sense of dread as to what that might be. Ginny's view of the world makes perfect sense when seen through her eyes. The frustration of the adults around her is voiced through her observations. And as readers, we can see what Ginny cannot intuit.

Ginny is one of those characters you just want to sweep up into your arms and look after. But at the same time we can see why that might be difficult. We can see it because Ludwig has done an absolutely fantastic job of portraying this wounded, gifted child. He's done such a bang-up job because he is writing from experience. He and his wife are themselves the adoptive parents of an autistic teenager. (Who loves Michael Jackson as much as Ginny does)

But at the root of it all, we all want the same thing as Ginny..."I need to belong somewhere..."

Absolutely, positively recommended. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hope, you'll wish - and you'll not be able to put the book down.

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LibraryThing member gpangel

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig is a 2017 Park Row Books publication.

This is one of those rare novels that everyone should read, no matter which way your tastes in books may run.

I realize the author has some experience dealing with special needs children, which gives him a great deal of personal

insight. However, climbing inside the mind of an autistic fourteen year old girl and giving her a voice that is so realistic, is quite a feat.

Ginny will touch your heart in so many ways. She will break it, warm it, and steal it all in one sitting.

Maura and Brian adopted Ginny, an autistic child, who has lived through a disgusting level of abuse. While Ginny is challenging under normal circumstances, the impending birth of the couples’ first biological child, brings about an entirely new set of concerns.

But, what no one seems to recognize is that Ginny has a secret locked inside of her, and it’s ripping her apart. What she knows, and feels, no matter how many ways she attempts to voice it, does not seep into the consciousness of the adults in her life.

She is desperate to find her ‘baby doll’, and no one understands why her quest is so important to her, which explains so much about why she keeps trying to find her birth mother.

I can’t praise the writing enough. The author has done a fantastic job of breathing life into such a precious girl, while highlighting the inward struggle those with autism live with. I felt as though all the characters were well drawn, and very credible.

I admit I have no first -hand experience with autism, but I trust the author’s, and as such, I believe this book is a fine representation of what it might be like to live with the disorder, not only from Ginny's perspective, but also examines the challenges parents and caregivers face.

It is frustrating on one hand, because I knew what was in Ginny’s mind and couldn’t understand why no one else picked up on it, but I could also understand how exhausting it must be, especially with so many other factors involved. I tried not to pass judgement, and understood the feelings of the adults involved were very raw and quite feasible and honest.

Although it is a slow and ‘tedious’ journey, not only for Ginny, but also for her ‘Forever’ family, the rewards made it all worthwhile.

I am so glad I discovered this book! It’s an awesome portrait of a very special young lady, and is a very affecting story that had a big impact on me.

4.5 stars

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LibraryThing member froxgirl

Autism seems to be male-centric in fiction, maybe making sense since a higher percentage of males are afflicted IRL. So this affecting novel, featuring a teenage adopted girl with autism, is a welcome change. There's a lot of pain flowing through, and if the author resembles the father in the

story, it's because he and his wife, too, are those adoptive parents. Ginny comes to them as a foster child and seems to be settling in with her "Forever Family" until they become birth parents to a daughter, and then it all falls apart in a most disastrous way.

The entire PoV is Ginny's, and both her internal voice and her outward actions are both fascinating and frustrating. She cannot let go of her earlier miserable life with her own birth mother, as a result of her brain issues and her concerns about who else was left behind when she was removed from a home rife with starvation and abuse. The narrative moves along smoothly and the reader becomes immersed in the plot and in Ginny's growing power over herself and her self-knowledge. Heartstrings are deeply plucked in this memorable tale.

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LibraryThing member Beamis12

Be still my heart, Ginny Moon, unforgettable. She is a young thirteen year old autistic girl, now living in the blue house her new forever home, with her new forever mom and dad. But...... she keeps asking for her baby doll, which five years ago she left in a suitcase, under her bed, in the home of

her birth mother, Ginny. So the story begins.........

I don't pretend to be an expert, though I do know a few children with autism. This sounded and felt so authentic, Ginny's voice so special and unique. When I first started reading I was a little skeptical, wondering how this book would progress, would it become too many pages of the same thing. Instead I fell in love with this young girl, how she thought, things she couldn't relate but only think, her plans and the reasons for them. Her insecurities and fears. Her need for a routine and her quest to recover her baby doll. Trying to fit into a new home and the struggles she has doing so. By book's end I was sad it was over, knew this was a character and book I would long remember. So very touching and different. Ultimately a feel good book. So glad I decided to read this book, everyone needs a little dose of Ginny Moon.

ARC from publisher.
Publishes May 2nd by Park Row books.

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LibraryThing member haymaai

‘Ginny Moon,’ by Benjamin Ludwig, is about a fourteen year old autistic girl name Ginny. Through the social service system, Ginny was taken away from her abusive and drug addicted birth mother, and has come to live with her ‘forever parents’ Maura and Brian Moon. But Ginny is fixated on

returning to her birth mother to take care of her Baby Doll, and she continually plots to run away. Told from the viewpoint of a determined, autistic teenager, Ginny is a ‘smart cookie,’ and she realizes many things, among them being that her birth mother is ‘totally unreliable.’ This novel brings to life a fresh, fascinating perspective into the mind of an autistic teenager, as she strives to find a place to belong. I was interested to learn that the author, Benjamin Ludwig, and his wife actually became foster parents and adopted an autistic teenager in their real lives. Through this genuine experience, the author creates such a rich appreciation for Ginny’s persona, and helps the reader to feel empathy and compassion in this heart-warming story.

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LibraryThing member GirlWellRead

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Harlequin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ginny Moon is a 14-year-old autistic girl that has found her "forever home" and she is trying to get kidnapped by her biological mother, Gloria, to ensure that her Baby Doll is safe. Ginny was with Gloria, a

drug addict, for nine years and was neglected and abused by Gloria and her various boyfriends. How can Ginny be so desperate to return to that life? She is beside herself because she has to get back to her Baby Doll. This life is all she has known, and as a person with autism, routine is paramount to existence—like Ginny having to eat nine grapes for breakfast.

This was a mixed bag for me. Ginny is an obvious unreliable narrator which drives the events forward. Described as being in the same vein as Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Ludwig is just as convincing a writer as Haddon. Why I can't give it a higher rating is that is was just plain depressing and sad. I do know that others will love this book, and I'm sure it will be a success. It would also make an excellent choice for a book club.

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LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher.*

A decent read written from the perspective of an autistic teenage girl. While Ginny Moon has a better life now that she's been adopted by a stable family, she remains concerned about the little sister she left behind. Not understanding that the

infant sister she left behind is now six years old, Ginny is determined to return to her birth mother to care for the baby she knows her mother's not contempt to care for. A good story about how Ginny learns to advocate for herself and communicate what she needs to those around her.

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LibraryThing member MeredithMay

Finally - a female Holden Caulfield comes along. Ginny Moon is misunderstood by grown-ups; and thoroughly unimpressed by them. Yet she copes in her magnificently unique, autistic way.

LibraryThing member strandbooks

I struggled with this book. It's told from the point of view of Ginny. She's a 14 year old girl with autism who has been abused and neglected by her mother and mother's boyfriend before being adopted. I think it is very difficult to write characters with autism without them coming across as comical

or someone to pity. I wished the book had some points of view of other characters especially Maura, her "Forever Mom" and Patrice, her counselor.

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LibraryThing member Carlathelibrarian

Ginny Moon is a 14 year old teenager who is living in her forever home. After being taken from her birth mother, Gloria, five years earlier, Ginny has been bounce around trying to find her place. This is hard enough for any teenager to deal with but added to the situation is the fact that Ginny has

autism. She is able to go to the community school with support, but she still has things to deal with. She needs routine, she takes things literally, she can only answer one question at a time and she needs to find her "Baby Doll". When Brian and Maura, her new forever parents who live in the blue house, become pregnant and have their own child, things begin to change for Ginny. She starts acting out at school stealing and getting into trouble. She does not know where she belongs anymore.

This was an amazing story. I have worked with families who have children with autism and the voice of Ginny was very realistic. She suffered trauma as a child and her life was turned upside down. This is extremely difficult for her to deal with. I liked Ginny very much. If she had been able to communicate clearer, many of the situations she got herself into might not have happened. As the main voice in this story, we were able to see the inner workings of her mind which allowed us to understand her so much better than the other characters in the book. Brian, her forever dad was my hero in this story. He loved Ginny and seemed to be caught between a rock and a hard place with his wife and baby. This story was both sad and happy. I liked that Ginny was finally able to self-advocate for herself and find her place in the world. A great story that I recommend to everyone.

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LibraryThing member Maydacat

This is story told from the point of view of a fourteen-year-old autistic girl. After a horrendous childhood, finally being removed from her mother, and some failed “forever homes,” she is adopted by Brian and Maura. Things are going as well as can be expected, until a couple of years later,

when Maura has a baby. Then the stress level zooms, and their lives start to fall apart. Author Benjamin Ludwig has done an excellent job of portraying an autisic child, and though this tale is not a thriller, there are plenty of suspenseful moments. Because we readers can hear Ginny’s thought processes, we can better understand how her mind works. Often, those around her, don’t. This book is sure to touch your heart as Ginny struggles to make sense of things, even when the adults in her world fail her.

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LibraryThing member Beth.Clarke

As a special education teacher, I've had a number of autistic girls in my classes. Ginny was a combination of many personalities I've known. It's clear the author understands autistic females and wrote an amazing story. Ginny's extensive problematic upbringing made the story a page turner. A book I

can easily recommend to others.

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LibraryThing member linda.a.

Ginny Moon is now fourteen years old but when she was nine she was removed from her neglectful, abusive and drug-addicted mother, Gloria, as well as the threats posed by a succession of her mother’s violent boyfriends. Following this traumatic experience she was placed in a number of different

foster and “forever” homes but always had to be moved on, either because she couldn’t settle or because her carers couldn’t cope with her behaviour. However, she is now living in what everyone hopes will be her final “forever home”, with “forever parents” Maura and Brian, who want to love and support her as she grows up. Playing flute in the school band, a keen basket-ball player and a huge fan of Michael Jackson, Ginny may seem like any ordinary teenager; however, she is also autistic, with all the challenges that this brings.
When Maura becomes pregnant it is suggested that Ginny should care for a plastic electronic “baby”, as a way of preparing her for the new arrival. However, the “baby’s” inconsolable crying reminds her of her Baby Doll, whom she had had to leave behind, in a suitcase under the bed, when she was removed from Gloria. Since then she has always wanted to be able to rescue Baby Doll because she knows her mother is incapable of looking after her. As she becomes determinedly focused on finally achieving this, her developing relationship with Maura and Brian is badly affected and her obsession threatens their future as a family. She seems prepared to do anything – be deceitful, lie and steal – to achieve her goal and they cannot understand why she would want to return to a life which had held such horrors for her, just in order to rescue a doll. Their fragile relationship is increasingly threatened when she unexpectedly makes contact with Gloria and determines to plan her own kidnapping by her mother, just in order to rescue Baby Doll.
Within a few pages of this remarkable novel I found that the literal-minded, determined, inventive and creative Ginny Moon had captivated me! Her powerful voice felt as insistent as her need to find a resolution to her past losses, enabling me to enter into the world of someone whose thought-processes are different from my own. She made me acutely aware of how often we rely on other people being able to understand idioms, conversational “shortcuts” etc as aids to easy communication and therefore how isolating it is for someone who is unable to tune in to these speech patterns. Also, of how we can often make communication more difficult by asking more than one question at the same time – Ginny becomes totally confused unless asked just one question and consequently feels unable to answer because she doesn’t know which question to respond to! Equally, it highlighted how difficult it is to make any sort of meaningful contact when we aren’t able to understand people who are communicating in a different way.
Many of the interactions between Ginny and the various characters in this story failed because of these failures of understanding; Ginny was certainly literal-minded, but at times the adults around her were just as likely to take some of the things she said in an equally narrow, literal way. So, one of the strongest messages which came through from this story is how we all need to try much harder to really listen to the “music behind the words”, to learn to adapt our behaviour when communication is breaking down, rather than just to carry on in familiar ways, hoping that repetition will achieve the desired response!
I thought that the author created authentic voices for each of his characters, not just for Ginny, and his convincing story-telling rapidly drew me into the confusing world they were all experiencing. I have had a lot of experience of placing children with adoptive and foster families and thought that he brought alive, in an entirely credible way, the very real struggles Ginny’s adoptive parents faced when they were confronted with Ginny’s apparent rejection of the loving and caring they were offering her. There was no sugary sentimentality in his descriptions; he didn’t portray them as saintly do-gooders, but as people who, even though they had the best of intentions, sometimes got things wrong. There were times when I felt intensely fearful for Ginny as she exposed herself to dangers she didn’t fully understand. Equally, there were moments when I felt as frustrated with her, and her potentially self-destructive behaviour as I did with her adoptive parents’ increasing irritation and despair in their dealings with her – it felt like being on an emotional roller-coaster which just wouldn’t stop!
I was reminded me of how full of admiration I feel for the resilience and commitment of adoptive and foster parents who are prepared to do all they can to ensure a better future for children who need their care. Of how strong they need to be to understand a child’s emotional links with even the most abusive and brutal birth parents, and of how difficult it must be for them to be able to put aside their own feelings of vulnerability in the face of challenging behaviour in order to respond to a child’s greater emotional fragility. I thought that the author did a good job in making it clear that these families need reliable help and support in order to enable them to cope with the extraordinary challenges they face.
Comparisons with Christopher, the main character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, are difficult to avoid and, as I had enjoyed that book so much, I feared that Ginny’s voice might not feel so convincing. However, these initial fears were soon dispelled as I became aware that, if anything, I felt much more drawn into the inner-workings of Ginny’s mind and the lasting impact her past experiences had had on her. I know that she will remain vivid in my memory for a very long time – she certainly lives up to the “original” in the book’s title!
This was a haunting and unforgettable book to read and would be a wonderful choice for reading groups as there are so many topics for discussion and debate.
My thanks to Real Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig is the story of an autistic girl who needs to find her forever home and learn to let go of the past. At the age of nine Ginny was taken from her abusive mother, Gloria, and now, at fourteen, is starting to feel safe and loved by her adoptive parents, Brian and Maura.

Maura is expecting a child which triggers memories in Ginny, that of her own baby doll and how she once loved and protected it.

Ginny becomes more and more anxious about her baby doll, but everyone assumes that she is talking about an actual doll so they don’t understand why she is increasingly getting more and more troublesome. By the time Maura’s baby arrives, they are afraid that Ginny may harm the new baby, and start to make the difficult decision to send Ginny away. The story is told by Ginny in her own words and the reader becomes immersed in her closed, careful and claustrophobic world. Everything must be black or white for Ginny, she doesn’t understand shades of grey.

This story alternates between being heartwarming and heartbreaking. Dealing with Ginny is difficult but I thought the story got a little far-fetched when none of the adults in her world, even her therapist, actually listened to her more carefully. Even once it was discovered that the baby doll was Ginny’s real baby sister, little effort was made to understand Ginny’s dilemma. This was a very good story that unfortunately was about 100 pages too long causing the read to become quite tiresome at times.

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LibraryThing member bibliovermis

This was a dramatic, engaging story—maybe overly dramatic at times, but very engaging and with a great protagonist.

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