SuitabookDear Mothman
Robin Gow
- Reading
- Read alongside Noah rather than rushing to resolve the grief. Pause after letters or emotionally intense passages, invite the child’s interpretation of Mothman, and let them choose whether to discuss personal parallels.
- Themes
- Grief and remembrance: Noah writes to Mothman after Lewis, his best friend, dies in a car accident, and makes the cryptid part of his science-fair project. The story presents grief as emotionally complex, alongside friendship, joy, curiosity and the possibility of finding connection after loss.
- Identity and belonging: Noah is a transgender boy who begins opening up about his queerness and gender identity while seeking belonging at school. The book presents this mainly as information or explanation.
- Monsters and difference: Noah questions what it means to be a monster and connects Mothman’s perceived otherness with his own feelings of being different. The motif appears to invite reflection on stigma and self-identification, but the cryptid’s meaning is not reduced to a single interpretation.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether a story involving a friend’s sudden death, grief, discrimination and questions about gender identity suits the conversations your child is ready to have. Cryptid encounters may also bring suspense.