A touching, elegantly crafted, and unique novel in verse about an autistic, transgender boy moving through grief to find friendship, growth, and belonging.
Sixth-grader Noah is grieving the death of his friend Lewis in a car accident. Lewis was the only other trans boy in Noah’s school, and Noah longs for someone who understands him the way Lewis did. He begins writing letters to Mothman, Lewis’s favorite cryptid, even if he isn’t sure he believes in Mothman the way Lewis did. But Noah senses that Mothman may be misunderstood like Noah himself is, and uses the letters to open up about his own thoughts and feelings.
The letters alternate with sections more directly addressed to readers, focusing on Noah’s life at home and at school. When he becomes determined to do his science fair project about Mothman, his teacher resists and his parents worry that he is too caught up in the idea of this creature. We see him, though, beginning to make friends with a small group of other students, fellow outsiders, and even developing a first crush. But will this help him as he is pulled further towards following where Mothman may lead?
The book is in turn thoughtful, poignant, and hopeful as author Robin Gow masterfully explores grief, change, self, and what it means to be a monster. Yet Gow endows Noah with strength and avoids making this a tale of woe; we see Noah following a path to self-understanding (and sharing of that self) even as he also learns more about his place in the real world. Gow plumbs Noah’s thoughts with perception, sensitivity, and sometimes brilliant turns of phrase; there will be few readers, I believe, who will not find something worth reflecting on here.
This marvelous story will stay with me for a long time, and I imagine other readers will feel the same.
