Me (Moth) a young adult debut by Amber McBride is a haunting story told in verse about two teens, Moth and Sina. Moth loses her entire family in a car accident that spares only her and she lives with survivor's guilt. Although what she does is not considered living. Moth cocoons herself against any enjoyment, even in her aunt's home. Her grief drives Aunt Jack to abandon her. The only voice that Moth clings to is the advice her Gray-Bearded Grandfather gave her about their Hoodoo spiritual roots. She is surprised to be drawn to the new student, Sina, a member of the Navajo Nation, who has his own emotional struggles. Although Moth is determined to stay invisible, Sina sees her and invites her to join him on a road trip back to New Mexico.
On this journey, Moth and Sina stop at various landmarks from Virginia to the Four Corners. As a former social studies teacher and librarian, it stood out to me how these characters take in each place through their own unique lens. For example, while in Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, they visit the quarters for the enslaved people and leave offerings for their courageous legacies. It's refreshing to have a point of view that is seeped in spirituality and a recognition for marginalized groups.
I highly recommend this book for young adult readers and adult readers because of the topics of identity, supporting one another and for learning about non-Western beliefs. The characters show strength through their struggles in a mystical, dreamy way. McBride writes as if the reader is floating above the story, yet feeling as if their feet are planted firmly in the Earth. I don't want to spoil the story but it ended in a way that made me go back and reread it knowing how it ended; it was like an entirely different story! Only a master storyteller can accomplish something that beautiful.
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