Luna by Julie Anne Peters

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Bibliographic Information:

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

ISBN: 978-1435284814

2006 Little Brown New York, NY

Plot Summary:

Regan is kept awake at night by her brother, dressing up and wearing makeup, Luna only comes out at night. During the day, Liam is the perfect brother, acing classes in school without effort. But Liam tells Regan that he is ready to transition and be Luna in the daylight.

This declaration makes Regan uncomfortable because she is afraid of the social consequences for her. Their father is also preoccupied with gender norms and this change is not going to go smoothly at home.

Regan stands by Luna, in spite of her misgivings. Luna covers for Regan at a babysitting job so that Regan can go on a date. Unfortunately, Luna is discovered dressed in the mother’s lingerie and Regan loses her job.

Luna is abandoned by her best friend and Regan is the only support she retains. When Regan decides to approach the boy she likes in school for another try, in walks Luna, dressed as a girl. Regan runs off, mortified, and leave Luna to deal with the school bully.

On Luna’s 18^th birthday she finally comes out to her parents. Her father is outraged and her mother ignores the situation. This tears their family apart, but Regan and Luna remain supportive of each other.

Critical Evaluation:

The first person point of view, told from Regan’s perspective, limits what the audience knows to what Regan knows. Regan does not know the feelings rolling around in Luna’s head as she fights to maintain the persona of Liam during the day. Regan still loves Luna/Liam, even though she is not omniscient.

Liam’s decision affects Regan and we learn her emotional response because of the point of view. Regan is just a 16 year old girl, learning her place in the world, but she wants to protect her older brother from the hurt she imagines he is going to experience when he transitions to female.

The themes of family and acceptance run throughout this novel. Regan is Luna’s only protector and she wants her brother to be happy. Regan sacrifices her sleep and her social standing to be supportive of Luna. This unconditional love is a strong familial theme.

In the story, Luna’s best friend Aly rejects her when she comes out. This reinforces the theme that family accepts unconditionally, as Regan never rejected her, but Aly needed time to come around to acceptance.

One disappointing aspect in the theme is that it turns out Regan’s mother was aware of Luna’s gender identity and ignored it, not helping along the way and leaving the girls at the mercy of their harsh father.

The point of view and the themes in this novel make it a strong, emotional story for adolescent readers.

Reader’s Annotation:

Regan loves Luna, she has to, she is her brother.

Author Information:

Julie Anne Peters is the critically-acclaimed, award winning author of more than a dozen books for young adults and children. Her book, Luna, was a National Book Award Finalist; Keeping You a Secret  wasnamed a Stonewall Honor Book; Between Mom and Jo won a Lambda Literary Award; and Define “Normal” was voted by young readers as their favorite book of the year in California and Maryland. Julie’s books have been published in numerous countries, including Korea, China, Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil.

She is a member of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, PEN America, Colorado Authors League, and The Author's Guild.

retrieved from http://www.julieannepeters.com/files/JPBio.htm on 8/5/2015

Genre(s):

LGBTQ, Fiction

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalk Ideas: Transgender coming of age stories

Reading level: grade 8+

Interest age: 14+

Challenge Issues: Issues of sexuality Challenge Defense File

Why I chose this book:

This book is a National Book Award finalist and was included in the curriculum for LIBR 265.