Dear Mothman

By: Robin Gow

Narrated by: Dani Martineck

Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

"A ­triumphant coming-of-age story about gender identity, strength, and friendship, as well as the different ways that people ­discover who they are." —School Library Journal, starred review

A moving middle-grade novel in verse, about a young trans boy dealing with the loss of his friend by writing to his favorite cryptid, Mothman

Halfway through sixth grade, Noah’s best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Lewis was adventurous and curious, always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders and names. After his death, lonely and yearning for someone who could understand him like Lewis once did, Noah starts writing letters to Mothman, wondering if he would understand how Noah feels and also looking for evidence of Mothman’s existence in the vast woods surrounding his small Poconos town. Noah becomes determined to make his science fair project about Mothman, despite his teachers and parents urging him to make a project about something “real.”

Meanwhile, as Noah tries to find Mothman, Noah also starts to make friends with a group of girls in his grade, Hanna, Molly, and Alice, with whom he’d been friendly, but never close to. Now, they welcome him, and he starts to open up to each of them, especially Hanna, who Noah has a crush on. But as strange things start to happen and Noah becomes sure of Mothman’s existence, his parents and teachers don’t believe him. Noah decides it’s up to him to risk everything, trek into the woods, and find Mothman himself.

©2023 Robin Gow (P)2023 Spotify Audiobooks

Beautiful story, Audible messed it up

This is an incredible, beautiful, moving work of poetry that kept me glued to every page and every word. It’s a brilliant work that narrates the childhood queer experience so poignantly and masterfully, as well deftly navigating the complexities of dealing with grief (at any age) especially at a young age.

I struggle to just read so I use the audiobook to read along, the narrator was incredible and made the story incredible but the “Audible” product is bad.

From about “chapter” 4 to the end of the book there are large sections that skip ahead, skip back, or repeat. If Audible could fix this I would recommend this Audible title to everyone. As it is, I recommend the book only, or if there is a playaway or other physical audio version.

Touching

Really amazing and meaningful read. I finished it in one sitting. It captures so much of what it feels like to be young and queer and a little weird in middle school. I saw so much of my own childhood in this story.