Amber McBride estimates she reads about 100 books a year. Her work has been published in literary magazines including Ploughshares and Provincetown Arts. Her debut young adult novel, Me (Moth) was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, among many other accolades. She is a professor of creative writing at University of Virginia, and lives in Charlottesville, Virgina.
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S
LITERATURE
2022 Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Winner
A 2022 Willam C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist
A BookPage Best Book of 2021
A Best Book of 2021, Shelf Awareness
An NPR Best Book of the Year, 2021
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2021
A Time Magazine Best Children's Book of 2021
People magazine's Best Children's Books of 2021
Winner, Richmond (VA) Public Library's 2023 YAVA Award "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/Din� 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
"Written in gorgeous verse, Moth's painful story of heartbreak,
connection, and learning to love again unfolds, thanks to a soul
connection with cool guy Sani."--Girls Life Magazine "With
unmatched lyrical writing and a powerful plot, McBride is an
absolute must-read author."--Buzzfeed "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... 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." --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)
"Me (Moth) holds you like a gentle haint, pulling you in and out of
song, and dance, and dreams until you are not sure where reality
ends and memory begins. Amber McBride in her young adult debut has
written a marvelous novel in verse full of ancestor wisdom and love
that traverses crossroads that we must navigate to live."--Joanne
V. Gabbin, Director, Furious Flower Poetry Center
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