Amber McBride: Hi, my name is Amber McBride and I'm the author of Me (Moth), which is a novel-in-verse about a girl named Moth and a boy named Sani. I was inspired to create this novel after my grandfather passed away. He practiced Hoodoo and I practice Hoodoo, which is an African-American folk magic system. And I wanted to write a book that honored and remembered him, and also talked about Navajo culture because my cousins are Navajo and I've been to the Navajo nation. And I just wanted two marginalized groups to have space on the same page.

I went about constructing Me (Moth), which is a novel-in-verse, by outlining the entire book first. When I write in prose, I don't have to do that, but because novels-in-verse are just lots of poems, you really have to be organized. So I had to organize the whole story and then go back and write the poems. My favorite part about writing Me (Moth) was looking into the Navajo creation stories and also the aspects of Hoodoo I did not know that much about to make the story more rich. So it was learning more about Navajo culture and about Hoodoo was the best part of writing this.

I hope that readers after they read Me (Moth) feel seen and understand that if you're going through a hard time or you're experiencing grief, that you can move through it gracefully and that it's okay to feel sad and that you can lean on other people as you start to heal. And I think that's really, really important.

I'm going to read a poem from Me (Moth) called Reasons I Hate Summer:

Reasons I Hate Summer.

1. Three months of waiting in a silent shell. 2. I can't think of anything except snapping in two. 3. My scar is chapped & my face tans & it shows more.

Reasons I Might Not Hate This Summer.

1. There's a boy who carries mountain smoke on his breath. 2. He has cedar around his neck & a tattoo laced his skin. 3. He sings like fog being pulled from the lake. 4. He plays like bird's wings kissing the wind. 5. He lives ten houses down. 6. I don't understand why, but he sees me (Moth).