[Review] Me (Moth) by Amber McBride

 

Cover image from the TheStoryGraph Site.

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date: 17 August, 2021

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary/Romance/Magical Realism/Poetry

ISBN: 9781250780362

Edition: Hardback (also available in Audiobook, and eBook)

Rating:★★★★★

Review Written: 11 February, 2022
Content Warnings: Death, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Child death, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Racism, Abandonment

Summary:  

A 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.

Moth has lost her family in an accident. Though she lives with her aunt, she feels alone and uprooted.

Until she meets Sani, a boy who is also searching for his roots. If he knows more about where he comes from, maybe he'll be able to understand his ongoing depression. And if Moth can help him feel grounded, then perhaps she too will discover the history she carries in her bones.

Moth and Sani take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors. The way each moves forward is surprising, powerful, and unforgettable.

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.

See more by Amber McBride on her website.

[Review] The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Cover image from the goodreads website.

Series: N/A

Release Date: 16 March, 2018

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Emigration & Immigration/Social & Family Issues/Coming of Age/Poetry

ISBN: 9781368005845

Edition: Audiobook (also available in Kindle and Hardback)

Rating: ★★★★★

Review Written: 11 February, 2019

Summary: A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. 

See more by Elizabeth Acevedo at her Website.