Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Teen Tuesday: Me (Moth) by Amber McBride


Me (Moth) by Amber McBride. 248 p. Fewer & Friends/ Macmillan Publishers, August, 2021. 9781250780362. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Happy late Tuesday! Did anyone notice I didn't post this morning? The reason is that I am a bit behind in my YA reading. Well, that's not totally true. I've been reading YA, but I haven't been able to recommend the titles, because they've been for more mature teens. So I've fallen behind in my middle school YA. I began this book yesterday hoping that it would be appropriate for a middle school recommendation and finished it just now. 

Teen Tuesday features Me (Moth) by Amber McBride. This novel in verse is Professor McBride's YA debut and it sure did land with a splash. It was a National Book Award Finalist and a Morris Award Finalist and the author was given a Coretta Scott King/ John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

Two years ago, Moth lost her family in a terrible car accident that left her with a horrible facial scar. She lives with her aunt, who is descending into alcoholism and feels invisible in her suburban school. She was a dancer, bound for Juilliard and now, she refuses to dance because she blames herself for the accident and misses her hoodoo-practicing grandfather.

Sani is new to Moth's school, just days before the end of the year. He sees her. They connect, but he has baggage as well-a missing dad, a remarried mom, and an abusive step-father who doesn't tolerate Sani's depression.

This is a sad, sad book with absolutely gorgeous imagery, foreshadowing and a plot twist I didn't see coming. Luminous.

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