Dear Mothman

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Dear Mothman

Title :

Dear Mothman / Robin Gow.

Title:

Dear Mothman

Author:

Gow, Robin

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

313 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

ISBN:

9781419764400

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Amulet Books, 2023.

Summary:

After the death of his best friend and the only other trans boy at school, Noah starts writing letters expressing his feelings to the humanoid creature Mothman and risks everything when he treks into the woods to prove Mothman's existence.

Target audience note:

Ages 10 to 14.

Language:

English

Genre:

Novels in verse.

Novels.

Subject Term:

Novels in verse.

Gender identity -- Fiction.

Grief -- Fiction.

Letters -- Fiction.

Mothman -- Fiction.

JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Emotions & Feelings

JUVENILE FICTION / Social Themes / Death, Grief, Bereavement

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TWEEN FICTION GOW	31330009340179	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library Children's Room	J GOW	31330009309612	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	YA/GOW	33934004685328	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	J GOW	32116003983703	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	TEEN GOW	32117002177495	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	J/FIC/GOW	31480011651665	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	J/FIC/GOW	31482003027946	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groton Public Library	YA MG GOW	37003701965445	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	Y GOW	30470002078755	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	J/FIC/GOW	31479007616773	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Ipswich Public Library	YA FIC GOW, ROBIN	32122003025891	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	TWEEN GOW	32128004166618	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	TEEN GOW	31478010223965	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	J GOW	31478003798064	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	J/GOW	32137002199885	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	MG F GOW	31990005242016	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library	KIDS FICTION GOW	32136003582206	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Poet and author Robin Gow's moving middle-grade novel in verse Dear Mothman is about a young trans boy dealing with the loss of his friend by writing to his favorite cryptid.

Halfway through sixth grade, Noah's best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Adventurous and curious, Lewis was always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders and names.

After Lewis's death, lonely and yearning for someone who could understand him like Lewis once did, Noah starts writing letters to Mothman, wondering if he would understand how Noah feels and also looking for evidence of Mothman's existence in the vast woods surrounding his small Poconos town. Noah becomes determined to make his science fair project about Mothman, despite his teachers and parents urging him to make a project about something "real."

Meanwhile, as Noah tries to find Mothman, he also starts to make friends with a group of girls in his grade, Hanna, Molly, and Alice, with whom he'd been friendly, but never close to. Now, they welcome him, and he starts to open up to each of them, especially Hanna, whom Noah has a crush on. But as strange things start to happen and Noah becomes sure of Mothman's existence, his parents and teachers don't believe him. Noah decides it's up to him to risk everything, trek into the woods, and find Mothman himself.

Reviews (5)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5 Up--Sixth-grader Noah is struggling after his best friend Lewis's unexpected death. No one seems to understand his deep grief, and now that Lewis is gone, no one knows that Noah is really Noah, not the name he was given at birth. The only connection Noah can find is to Mothman, a mythical cryptid that was a subject of fascination for Lewis. Noah begins leaving letters out for Mothman at night, writing of his isolation, sadness, and quest for understanding. When Mothman begins leaving scribbles in the notebook overnight, Noah's curiosity grows. As he slowly begins making friends, he introduces them to Mothman as well, and to his own true self. A book that so honestly depicts a transgender, autistic character is a rarity, and Noah's story is truly beautiful. His letters to Mothman, interspersed with first-person prose and occasional sketches, speak to a boy struggling to find himself after the one person who truly knew him is gone. Mothman may be symbolic to Noah's own journey, but the magical realism aspect of the book adds another, deeper layer as Noah begins to find his own strength and share who he is. VERDICT A triumphant coming-of-age story about gender identity, strength, and friendship, as well as the different ways that people discover who they are.--Kristin Brynsvold

Publisher's Weekly Review

An autistic, transgender sixth grader attempts to correspond with a cryptid following his best friend's death in this poignant novel from Gow (A Million Quiet Revolutions). Lewis Hugh was the only person whom Noah Romano was out to; since Lewis died in a car accident three months ago, Noah has been feeling lonely and unmoored. Noah doesn't believe in Mothman, as Lewis did, but he decides to use Lewis's idea of finding the figure for a science fair project. As he hunts for proof, writing letters to Mothman that he leaves under a tree, he also receives thoughtful support from adults in his life and befriends a trio of LARPers. Alternating between first-person narration and letters to Mothman, and peppered with creepy-cute sketch-style illustrations, this touching free verse story abounds with hard-hitting and tender lines about grief, queerness, and neurodivergence--concepts that Noah ponders alongside the idea of monstrosity (" 'monster' is what people become/ when other people are afraid of them/ for being different"). Steeped in the atmosphere of a Pennsylvania coal mining town, Noah's journey to himself is at once melancholy and empowering. Noah is of Irish and Italian heritage; secondary characters represent racial diversity. Ages 10--14. Agent: Jordan Hamessley, New Leaf Literary. (Mar.)

Horn Book Review

This verse novel follows sixth grader Noah as he processes his grief over the death of his best friend, Lewis, in a car accident. The two were connected by things the world didn't necessarily understand: a shared interest in the elusive cryptid Mothman and their own gender identities. Known to their families and friends by their assigned genders and birth names, the friends had shared their true identities as boys only with each other, making the loss even more heartbreaking for Noah. To honor Lewis's memory, Noah (whose autism spectrum disorder is naturally incorporated) decides to dedicate his science fair project to proving Mothman's existence. Through letters to Mothman, written in a journal that he leaves at the edge of the woods, Noah finds the companionship he is desperate for, which eventually leads to his bravely seeking out new friendships. Gow draws poignant comparisons between the misunderstood Mothman and Noah's burgeoning understanding of his queerness. "I think monsters are here / to make people like me feel less alone." Noah's journey through grief and coming out to the world is authentically messy and joyful. (c) Copyright 2023. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

Grieving the loss of his best friend, an autistic transgender boy in a former coal-mining town in Pennsylvania dedicates himself to finding a cryptid for the sixth grade science fair. Unlike Lewis, Noah only pretended to believe in Mothman, but he doesn't have any other ideas for his project, because Lewis is all he's thought about since the car crash three months ago. Desperate for evidence, he writes a note to Mothman in a journal, leaving it under a tree in his yard. The next morning, Noah finds the notebook open to his letter. Scared and yearning for a friend who understands him, Noah pours his heart into completing the project even though no one else believes in it. Written in first-person verse and accompanied by pencil-sketch--style illustrations, the text alternates between Noah's reflective and earnest letters to Mothman and his narration of his school and home lives. Throughout, Noah questions what it means to be a monster. His exploration of monstrosity ties together themes of loneliness, discrimination, self-identification, and community. He expresses the value and necessity of support while acknowledging the barriers and challenges in seeking it. Gow captures the complexity of emotions that arise amid grief and self-discovery. Moments of humor, joy, and curiosity intertwine with heartache as Noah makes new friends and starts opening up about his queerness and gender identity. Noah is of Irish and Italian descent; Gow depicts ethnic diversity in the world around him. Poignant and sincere. (Verse novel. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

This affecting verse novel opens after Noah's best friend, Lewis, has died. The two kids shared a naive romantic connection, in addition to the secret of them each being trans boys, making Noah's grief especially layered and complex. As a way of working through his feelings, he intends to finish the sixth-grade science project they started together: proving the existence of Mothman, whom Lewis knew to be real. The story is quiet, measured, and deeply internal, related primarily through emotionally vulnerable letters from Noah to Mothman and left near the woods for the cryptid to read. As various signs convince Noah that Mothman is receiving his messages, tension builds over whether Mothman is real, or something else entirely, though more and more the evidence of the creature seems convincing, and it all culminates with an ill-advised journey deep into the woods. As a device to explore grief and an emerging queer identity, the Mothman conceit is particularly effective. "No one listens to kids or monsters," Noah reflects, and the book's tone excellently captures that middle-grade mindset of trying to figure out a bigger world, both internally and externally. Noah being autistic adds yet another layer of struggle, beauty, and meaning as he navigates the sixth-grade social scene. At times thrilling and always moving, Gow's middle-grade debut is unquestionably a must-have for all collections.