Dear Mothman

Dear Mothman

Robin Gow

Amulet, 2023

313 pages

Grades 6-8

Narrative Poetry/Realistic Fiction

Unconventional formatting and narrative poetry convey the story of Noah, a transgender boy, who is dealing with the loss of a best friend and revealing to the world his true identity during the spring of sixth grade in a small Pennsylvania town. Noah processes his feelings by writing a series of letters to Mothman, a cryptid who has been sighted in the area and was greatly followed and adored by Lewis, the departed friend. Noah, who is on the spectrum, has a hard time understanding other people's intentions and often is confused when other kids make fun of him. It is with trepidation and cautious optimism that Noah begins to make some new friends: three girls who also march to the beat of their own drummers. One of the girls, Hanna, might even turn out to be a possible crush and love interest. The kids have a sleepover at Noah's house to try to catch Mothman on his daily nocturnal visits. They think they see him--and all run away scared. Noah feels terrible. He now has proof that Mothman exists, but needs physical evidence in order to make the other kids believe and get a passing grade in his science project. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Noah takes it upon himself to go into the woods to track down Mothman with predictably disastrous results. Will Noah survive the adventure? Will the world finally believe in Mothman and learn to accept Noah for who he truly is?

Well, its that time of year. I am reading all of the newly reviewed books of the year that are showing up on the "best of" lists. This is another beautifully written and powerful book--that the target audience is not reading. Thirty-three libraries in my consortium bought this book and only one is out--checked out to me! That said, Dear Mothman is deserving of all of it's praise. The poetry is gorgeous with every word important. The format is eye-catching. Different fonts are used for the narration and the letters with Hanna and Noah each getting their own distinct font. Pencil illustrations seem child-like and appear to be taped into the book scrapbook style. The edges of the pages are shaded to make the volume look like a journal. The representation is important, featuring a transgender autistic kid. The plot, though quiet, is interesting and I caught myself holding my breath to see if Mothman would really appear. I found certain situations a bit contrived. I was surprised that Noah managed to find such like minded and well-adjusted friends so quickly. In some ways Noah felt very immature, and in others the opposite was true-especially in the dating realm. I listened to the audio, which lost something without the benefit of seeing the formatting and I didn't quite believe the narration. This is a story best enjoyed by the physical book, which will require a bit of handselling to the right reader.