Luna

Title: Luna
Author: Julie Anne Peters
ISBN: 0316733695

Plot Summary: Regan, a high school student, lives in a troubled household: her father, himself the victim of physical abuse as a child, bullies Regan's brother Liam into accepting traditional gender roles; her mother, a prescription drug addict, uses denial as a coping mechanism; and Liam himself is transgender, attempting to make the slow, painful transformation from his male body to the female person he believes he truly is. Regan attempts to help Liam/Luna as much as she can, but this often comes at the expense of her own time, effort, sanity, and even social life. In the process, both she and the reader learn not only what being transgender truly means, but also the effect it has on the family unit, how society reacts, and what effect this has on the transgender individual.


Critical Evaluation: This book pulls no punches in depicting both the positive and negative aspects of Liam's transformation into Luna; she is able to become who she truly is, but does so at the expense of familial relations, friendships, and the life she has known up to this point. In this respect, the book is not only strongly written: it is virtually without peer. That said, Regan, although a sympathetic character overall, is primarily a foil for Liam/Luna. We are rarely given insight into who she is as a person: for example, her love of opera is explained away by a brief mention of a friend named Carmen, who never resurfaces, and there is little explanation given for why this otherwise modern teen would select an art form rooted in a classical past. For all that the story is told from her perspective, we barely get a mental picture of what Regan looks like, let alone who she is as a person except in relation to her brother. The author has done an excellent job exploring the motivations behind Liam/Luna; however, the overall impression one gets of Regan is that Peters did not delve as deep into her psyche as she did with the character's brother.
Reader's Annotation: Liam is Regan's brother, and she loves him - but he is also Luna, her transgender sister, attempting to transform into the person she believes she truly is. Regan struggles not only with helping Liam

About the Author: Julie Anne Peters was born in Jamestown, NY in 1952, moving to Denver with her family when she was five. She earned a B.A. in Elementary Education with a French minor from Colorado Women's College, spending a year abroad in Switzerland. She taught for a year, then had a variety of jobs for the next 10 years before finally settling on writing as a career. She lives in Colorado with her partner, Sherri, and has written short fiction, novels, and chapter books for readers from age 6 through age 12 and up.

Genre: Fiction, LGBT

Curriculum Ties: Sex Education

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Regan is straight, dresses normally, is an average student, listens to opera music... and has a brother who wants to become her sister.
Approach: Character-based.
Notes for Booktalk: Other than being Liam/Luna's sister, what is Regan's identity as a person? A girl? A teenager? Discuss what it is like being the sibling of an individual undergoing such a momentous transformation. The parents have an effect on her too, in how they relate to her and how they don't (i.e. ignore) her.

Hook: When Liam comes out as trans, he gets labeled as gay by peers and by his father.
Approach: Plot-based.
Notes for Booktalk: If a boy wants to become a girl, does this automatically mean he is attracted to boys? Discuss what, if any, evidence there is for which gender Liam is attracted to, and whether or not this is relevant to her identity as Luna. Raise the point that gender and sexuality are two discrete issues: wanting to be the opposite gender does not necessarily mean you are attracted to the same sex. Ask if readers know any transgender people, and if so what, if anything, they have said about who they are attracted to.

Hook: Regan finds out at the end of the book that her mother knew all about her brother's gender identity issues, but chose to ignore them. (p. 225-228)
Approach: Scene-based.
Notes for Booktalk: How has the mother's denial affected Liam's relationship with his father? With his own gender identity? How is her decision to ignore this issue reflected in her life choices - career choice, substance abuse, etc.? Ask if readers know anyone, family or friend, with substance abuse problem. Don't ask them to name names or specify substances, but talk about how their negative life choices have affected the lives of those around them.

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 7-12

Challenge Issues: Offensive language, drug use, homosexuality.
The issue of transgender/transsexual individuals is a controversial one, both in straight and queer communities. The contrast between their biological and psychological gender identities is often misunderstood; as a result, they are frequently the victims of violence, as in the case of Teena Brandon. Homosexuality and transsexuality are not synonymous, and the fact that the issue is still such a controversial one is, in my mind, the strongest argument for keeping the book on shelves. As for substance abuse and language, this book attempts to portray the teenage experience as realistically as possible, as much as for "normal" teens like Regan as for her brother, and to censor this would be to negate part of the full experience.

Why I Chose This Book: There are far too few books currently on the market, and in general, that deal with the issue of transgender individuals, whether in a positive or negative light. This book presents transgender issues in a largely positive light, but does not deny the impact they can have on the family, nor the negative backlash that can result from people as individuals or as groups.