Book Description
for This Moth Saw Brightness by A.A. Vacharat
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
When ’Wayne (who goes by “D”) is invited to participate in a high-profile Johns Hopkins study on teen health, he jumps at the chance, eager to challenge his dad’s low expectations of him. It doesn’t hurt that his crush, Jane (white, autistic), is also participating. D (Vietnamese and white) is fitted with a wristband, asked to complete daily puzzles and questions on his phone, and given a pill; he is not told what the pill is or how it might affect him. Knowing little about the study’s purpose, D and Jane begin meeting up to discuss their experience; D’s tech-whiz best friend, Kermit (South Asian), sometimes joins. Soon, the three of them wonder: Is something unethical—even sinister—going on here? Is it really a health study? What do the wristbands monitor? What makes D and Jane eligible? Why did a fellow study participant inexplicably drop out of school? Feeling increasingly paranoid, D begins tracking any observable changes in himself. He’s also reeling after receiving an unexpected email from his mom, who abandoned the family years ago and now wants to reconnect. This inventive, suspenseful novel, which incorporates emails, screenshots, footnotes, and other documents, asks important questions about the ethics of medical research in the United States, especially on vulnerable populations. While its open ending may frustrate some, it nonetheless invites speculation and discussion.
CCBC Choices 2026. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison, 2026. Used with permission.

