Ages 8-12 Awards & Accolades
- A Children’s Book Review Best Middle Grade Novel of 2019
- A Kentucky Bluegrass Award Nominee
- One of Romper’s “8 Books to Read With Your Kids if you love Harry Potter”
Twelve-year-old Mallie knows better than to dream. In Coal Top, you live the story you’re given. That means boys toil in the mines and girls work as servants. Mallie can’t bear the idea of that kind of life, but her family is counting on her wages to survive.
It wasn’t always this way. Before the Dust came, the people of Coal Top could weave starlight into cloth. They’d wear these dreaming clothes to sleep and wake up with the courage to seek adventure . . . or the peace to heal a broken heart. But now nothing can penetrate Coal Top’s blanket of sorrow.
So when Mallie is chosen for a dangerous competition in which daring (and, ideally, orphaned) children train flying horses, she jumps at the chance. Maybe she’ll change her story. Maybe she’ll even find the magic she needs to dream again. But the situation proves even more dangerous when Mallie uncovers a sinister mystery at the heart of Coal Top’s struggles — a secret powerful people will do anything to protect.
From Natalie Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author of A Snicker of Magic and The Key to Extraordinary, comes an adventure that’ll make your heart soar . . . and your imagination take flight.
Reviews
★ “Strong themes of friendship and loyalty drive Lloyd’s story, which soars under Mallie’s heroic lead [whose] physical disability never holds her back. Rather, she bravely proves that questions have power and one’s story can be reshaped.” —Booklist, starred review
“Lloyd presents a bleak portrait of a fantasy-world mining community that faces similar challenges to the ones in our own real world, but Mallie’s story is essentially one of daring journeys and heroic adventure.” —Horn Book
“Lloyd deftly sketches oppressive social and economic circumstances and firmly establishes Mallie’s bravery.” —Publishers Weekly
“This book offers an excellent example of diversity with its strong female heroine whose disability doesn’t halt or hinder her from living her life and setting high goals.” —School Library Connection
“If you’ve ever fancied a ride on a thestral, then this is the book for you.” —romper.com
“Over the Moon is a lyrical adventure through a marvelous and strange world. I loved every moment.” —Jonathan Auxier, award-winning author of Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes & The Night Gardner
“In a sweetly luminous tone, narrator Cassandra Morris brings forth the wonder of Lloyd’s latest magical tale … Morris channels Mallie’s effervescent optimism and determination, along with the deep love that she feels for her family…” —Audiofile Review of Over the Moon audiobook
Ages 8-12Did you know?
Did you know the invitation Mallie discovers in Over the Moon is based on a real advertisement used for The Pony Express? Click here to see a replica of The Pony Express poster.
Over the Moon: The Audiobook
Fight the Dust again with Mallie and Leo via the audiobook edition of Over the Moon, voiced by award-winning actress Cassandra Morris and containing original music by David Mansfield.