Awards & Lists
- Finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (Me (Moth))
- Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent Winner (Me (Moth))
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner (Gone Wolf)
- William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist (Me (Moth))
- NPR Best Book of the Year (Me (Moth))
- TIME Magazine Best Children’s Book of the Year (Me (Moth))
- People Magazine’s Best Children’s Book of the Year (Me (Moth))
- BookPage Best Book of the Year (Me (Moth))
- Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year (Me (Moth))
- School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (Me (Moth))
- Texas Library Association TAYSHAS Selection (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- Common Sense Media Best Media of the Year Selection (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- School Library Journal Best Book of Year (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- Best Fiction for Young Adults selection (YALSA) (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- Bank Street Best Book of the Year (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- Barnes & Noble Best New Books of the Year (Gone Wolf)
- Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year (Gone Wolf)
- Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Gone Wolf)
- 2024 Best Fiction for Young Adults selection (YALSA) (Gone Wolf)
- 2024 Bank Street Best Book of the Year (Gone Wolf)
- A Notable Verse Novel, National Council of Teachers of English (Onyx & Beyond)
- A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection pick (Poemhood: Our Black Revival)
Select Starred Reviews
★ “Searing… Each free verse poem is tightly composed, leading into the next for a poignant and richly layered narrative. The story builds softly and subtly to a perfect, bittersweet ending.” —School Library Journal, starred review (Me (Moth))
★ “This novel is hauntingly romantic, refusing to be rushed or put down without deep contemplation of what it means to accept the tragedies of our lives and to reckon with the ways we metamorphosize as a result of them.” —Booklist, starred review (Me (Moth))
★ “If you think you know where this story is going, think again. Me (Moth) will surprise you.”
— BookPage, starred review (Me (Moth))
★ “This phenomenal novel-in-verse transports readers into an impassioned tale of heartache and hope that belongs on every bookshelf serving teens.” —School Library Journal, starred review (We Are All So Good at Smiling)
★ “Raw and poignant and promising hope, even when it seems there is no way out.” — Shelf Awareness, starred review (We Are All So Good at Smiling)
★ “McBride’s multidimensional genius shines through, artfully exposing the reality that Black Americans have lived lifetimes of dystopias. She scrupulously guides the complicated storyline and hard histories with context, definitions, and word choices. Raw, incisive, and authentic.”
— Kirkus Reviews, starred review (Gone Wolf)
★ “An impressive genre-bending puzzle…What seems to be dystopic terror is the reality of the Black experience; author and narrator embody the lifesaving validation of storytelling”
— School Library Journal, starred review (Gone Wolf)
★ “As readers follow Onyx in his endeavors to help his mother, they’re also given a glimpse into being a young Black boy who, for all his troubles in life, has just as many joyful moments with his family and friends. A story of perseverance and love.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review (Onyx & Beyond)
★ “A beautifully told novel in verse about family and community.” — School Library Journal, starred review (Onyx & Beyond)
★ “This collection of more than 50 poems is beautiful, sonorous, and song-like, even as the poems talk back and raise their voices.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review) (Thick with Trouble)
★”An eclectic mix of Black experiences fills this unmatched anthology that features both modern poets, such as Nikki Giovanni and Ibi Zoboi, and ‘the brilliant Black poets who are now ancestors’… A fresh canon for poetry studies.”—ALA Booklist (starred review) (Poemhood: Our Black Revival)
Interviews, Press & Podcasts
- THE NEW YORK TIMES: New York Times Jacqueline Woodson and Amber McBride Look Backward to Look Forward (November 2023)(Gone Wolf)
- THE NEW YORK TIMES: New York times New Published in YA (Jan 2023) (We Are All So Good At Smiling)
- HORN BOOKS: Horn Books Interview (Oct 2023) (Gone Wolf)
- PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Publishers Weekly Interview (Sept 2023)(Gone Wolf)
- James Madison University: Verse With Virginia Roots: JMU(Jan, 2022)
- NPR: NPR Book Review of Me (Moth) (August, 2021)
Praise for Amber McBride
“On every page, Amber McBride builds layer upon layer of meaning. It’s very rare that, upon finishing a book, I feel compelled to go back and start again at the beginning, but that’s what I did when I finished Me (Moth). I feel certain that it will offer something new upon each revisit in the future.” — NPR (Me (Moth))
“With unmatched lyrical writing and a powerful plot, McBride is an absolute must-read author.” — Buzzfeed (Me (Moth))
“A heartbreaking yet hopeful look inside the mind of a young person reeling from unimaginable trauma. McBride’s characters are likeable and relatable; honest, vulnerable, and exceedingly brave…giving the reader hope that both characters, along with their parents, will be okay.” —School Library Connection (We Are All So Good at Smiling)
“An especially timely read at a moment when Black history is being systematically erased in certain parts of our country.”—New York Times (Gone Wolf)
“McBride has created a powerful parable that holds up a mirror to the horrors of slavery and the ways people become complicit — but can choose to resist — dehumanizing systems.” —Star Tribune (Gone Wolf)
“Reading this collection… is to enter a world full of beauty… McBride’s collection, lyrical and lilting, has an ancestral quality of timelessness, which demands reflection upon the reader’s connection to nature and their past.” —The Boston Globe (Thick with Trouble)
“Difficult, unruly, fearsome, defiant—this a chorus of unapologetic women who laugh, cry, mesmerize and bring outsiders to their knees in the author’s collection of poems that reckon with the force and complexity of Black womanhood.” —EBONY (Thick with Trouble)
“Laced with magic and mystery . . . McBride provides readers with a fresh take on America’s violence-laden past and present and a chorus of unapologetic women who summon their ancestors, their self-determination, and their histories to create empowerment and existence on their own terms.” —The Southern Review of Books (Thick with Trouble)
“[McBride spins] a beautiful web of interconnected pieces relating to her identity as a Black woman in the modern era… The collection shines through its brutally unapologetic nature; it is both vivid and powerful… ‘Thick with Trouble’ gracefully toes the line between the incomprehensible and the quotidian, creating a beautiful and intriguing poetry collection.” —The Harvard Crimson (Thick with Trouble)
Select Panels and Talks
- National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE): Keynote speaker, Between the World and Me Panel; Student by Student Panel; Teaching YA Literature Panel (November 2023).
- North Texas Teen Book Festival: Novels in verse & Lyrical Fiction, Going Through it: Depression in Children’s Lit, Fantasy forever (March 2023).
- Richard Mckenna Charter School, Mountain Home, ID; Performing Poetry Lecture (November 2023).
- Simmons University Center for the Study of Children’s Literature (July 2022).
- Loudon County Public School Keynote for English Teachers (August 2022).
- Gill St. Bernard Pubic School talk on Poetry (Sept. 2022).
- Guntson School Poetry at Large Talk (March 2022).
- Enoch Pratt Free Library Talk (Jan 2023 & Jan 2025).
- Virginia Association of Teachers of English (Feb. 2023).
- American Booksellers Association (ABA) Winter Institute, Poet’s Take the Stage Panel
- LA Festival of the Book Panel (April 2022).
- National Texas School Library Association: Ever Line Counts: Novels in Verse (April 2022).
- Virginia Festival of the Book (March 2022 & 2024).
- Furious Flower Summit Workshops (March 2022).
- Bronx Book Festival Panel (June 2022).
- ALA Annual Conference: Coretta Scott King Award Speech (June 2022).
- Simmons College Summer Institute “Lost & Found” Lecture, Boston (July 2022)
- School Library Journal: The Power of Voice (Novel 2021).
- Highlights Foundation Virtual Panel (How to Write A Novel: World Building) October 2021& 2023.
- James River Writers Panel (How to stay relevant virtually) January 2021.