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by Amber McBride
A debut YA novel-in-verse by Amber McBride, Me (Moth) is about a teen girl who is grieving the deaths of her family, and a teen boy who crosses her path.
Moth has lost her family in an accident. Though she lives with her aunt, she feels alone and uprooted.
Until she meets Sani, a boy who is also searching for his roots. If he knows more about where he comes from, maybe he'll be able to understand his ongoing depression. And if Moth can help him feel grounded, then perhaps she too will discover the history she carries in her bones.
Moth and Sani take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors. The way each moves forward is surprising, powerful, and unforgettable.
Here is an exquisite and uplifting novel about identity, first love, and the ways that our memories and our roots steer us through the universe.
2025 National Book Awards Finalists Announced
Here's the list! Which ones have you read? Which are on your radar? Fiction : Rabih Alameddine, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) Megha Majumdar, A Guardian and a Thief Karen Russell, The Antidote Ethan Rutherford, North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther Bryan Wa...
-kim.kovacs
"This searing debut novel-in-verse is told from the perspective of Moth, a Black teen whose life changed forever the day a car crash killed her family...Each free verse poem is tightly composed, leading into the next for a poignant and richly layered narrative. The story builds softly and subtly to a perfect, bittersweet ending. Fans of Jacqueline Woodson won't be able to put this one down." - School Library Journal (starred review)
"McBride artfully weaves Black Southern Hoodoo traditions with those of the Navajo/Diné people, creating a beautiful and cross-cultural reverence for the earth, its inhabitants, and our ancestors. ... Written in verse, this novel is hauntingly romantic, refusing to be rushed or put down without deep contemplation of what it means to accept the tragedies of our lives and to reckon with the ways we metamorphosize as a result of them." - Booklist (starred review)
"If you think you know where this story is going, think again. Me (Moth) will surprise you." - BookPage (starred review)
"[P]oignant...McBride skillfully renders while covering serious topics such as grief and mental health, including suicidal ideation." - Publishers Weekly
"Recommended. McBride writes Moth's narration in spare, wistful free verse that reads like Francesca Lia Block in poetry or a fragile, emotional E. E. Cummings; Moth's pain at being 'the guilty girl who lived' is keen and haunting, and the frequent evocation of her grandfather, a spiritual rootworker, adds a supernatural flavor...Readers may not see the poignant final twist coming, but it's a satisfying climactic development that will leave them dabbing their eyes and turning to their own art in hope and gratitude." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB)
This information about Me (Moth) was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amber McBride teaches English literature at Northern Virginia Community College and has a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, Provincetown Arts, Decomp and more, and Me (Moth) is her debut novel. McBride lives in Charlottesville, VA.
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