The Disability Book Archive

[ID: This is the cover of Dear Mothman. It saw a shimmering mothman in the center with a young white trans boy at the bottom who is writing in a journal. Around his is a magickal forest scene. The title “Dear Mothman” and “Robin Gow” is in the center. /end]

ID taken from author’s website.

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Content Warning:

• Bullying
• Death
• Child Death
• Death of A Friend
• Car Accident
• References to Transphobia
• Deadnaming
• Misgendering
• Grief
• Panic Attack

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Summary:

Poet and author Robin Gow’s moving middle-grade novel in verse Dear Mothman is about a young trans boy dealing with the loss of his friend by writing to his favorite cryptid.

Halfway through sixth grade, Noah’s best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Adventurous and curious, Lewis was always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders and names.

After Lewis’s 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, he 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, whom 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.

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Notes:

This book won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Middle Grade Fiction.

This book is written in verse.

There is an audiobook.

There is a kindle edition.

Here is a link to the author’s website.

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Archivist Comments:

I would like to extend my thanks to Gow for being so open and willing to participate in this project. It is very much appreciated and has made my work regarding this entry and the future author spotlight entry much, much easier!

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