Morris YA Debut Award - FinalistĪmber McBride is an English professor at the University of Virginia and holds an MFA in poetry from Emerson College.

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.Īward: John Steptoe New Talent Award - WinnerĪward: William C. The way each moves forward is surprising, powerful, and unforgettable.

Moth and Sani take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors. And if Moth can help him feel grounded, then perhaps she too will discover the history she carries in her bones. If he knows more about where he comes from, maybe he'll be able to understand his ongoing depression. Until she meets Sani, a boy who is also searching for his roots. Though she lives with her aunt, she feels alone and uprooted. (Aug.FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATUREĪ 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. Agent: Rena Rossner, Deborah Harris Literary. As the two travel, visiting national landmarks that connect them to the ghosts of their ancestors, a tender love story unfolds, one that debut author McBride skillfully renders while covering serious topics such as grief and mental health, including suicidal ideation. Desperate for a change, Moth and Sani embark on a road trip out west to the Navajo Nation, where Sani’s biological father lives. When a new student-talented Navajo musician Sani-shows up in her junior homeroom class, Moth finds a kindred spirit whose similarly painful past and physically abusive stepfather compound his depression. Two years after a devastating car accident killed her family as they drove from New York to northern Virginia, aspiring dancer Moth, the Black granddaughter of a Hoodoo root worker, is still navigating the accident’s fallout, which includes a mark on her face “as crisp as the tip of a whip from jaw to eye.” Poignant free verse details her resignation to a “bland” existence in the suburbs, where she’s ignored by classmates and her aunt Jack, who has developed an alcohol reliance.

Me moth by amber mcbride