Julie Anne Peters's Luna (2004)

Luna tells the story of a high school transgender student through the eyes of zhis sister Reagan. Liam by day, Luna by night, her brother struggles to reconcile self-identity with imposed identity in an environment unfriendly toward non-traditional and non-binary gender. Reagan (at first reluctantly - her actions come from a desire to protect her formerly suicidal brother) supports Liam/Luna as he decides to transition from male to female and slowly "comes out."

I am so happy that this book exists. It is a truly beautiful portrayal of transgenderism that young adults can relate to. Because the story is told through a character once removed from the issue, the reader can experience initial negative feelings through her and then live through her analysis and dismissal of those feelings. When Luna tells Reagan about her desire to transition, it takes Reagan a minute to realize that this will result in sexual reassignment surgery (SRS). Peters describes her reaction by writing, "A wave of nausea washed over me... Don't desert him, my brain screamed. Don't do this. Don't let him down. Don't let him know" (134). While she is comfortable at this point in referring to her brother as a sister, it does take some time for her to acclimate to the eventuality of this surgery. Young readers who are also unfamiliar with transgender issues will be eased into acceptance as Reagan is. Ultimately, Reagan's feelings are "Yeah, I loved her. I couldn't help it. She was my brother" (4).

A few things disappointed me about this book. First, there is little exploration/explanation of gender neutral pronouns, such as zhe and hir. Even in writing this reflection I have found myself tripping over how to refer to Luna/Liam's gender. I expected that Reagan and Liam would have encountered the same problem. I found some alternative pronouns to use (have you noticed them?), but I am still curious about the real-life applications of these words. Are they embraced by transgenders? Or not? There was an opportunity to address the reasons for using gender-neutral pronouns and the options available when Luna finds a mentor online. Teri-Lynn is older and has already undergone a complete (including SRS) transition from male to female. She illuminates many aspects of transition for Luna. I was hoping the novel would reveal some ways to sidestep the limitations of the English language and improve comfort levels when addressing or speaking about a person of transgender, but the issue is mostly ignored. While Reagan, in her internal dialogue, seems to struggle with what to call her brother/sister, it is left as a binary series of alternating pronouns.

Musings on Gender - Juliet Darken (Our Lives Magazine Jan/Feb 2011)

Speaking of binary, Luna does not take the opportunity to address the societally established norm of binary gender. I illustrated an article in the January/February 2011 issues of Our Lives Magazine titled "Musings on Gender" that spoke very movingly about the anonymous author's struggle to feel that - though she is biologically female - she fit into one gender category or another. Every day she leaned more and more toward transitioning, but she lamented the fact that our society cannot accept a person like the Native American "two spirit" people who feel neither male nor female, but somewhere in the middle. The author of the article had turned to alcohol to deal with the depression that came with these thoughts. She reported that since becoming sober she "thought of suicide more than often." Peters does mention the Native American two spirit philosophy, but does not use her characters to expound on this concept; rather than expressing gender as a range or continuum, she sustains the binary nature of gender by suggesting that Liam/Luna must be one or the other. Although I believe that this is the case for some transgender teens and adults, most people who examine this issue are coming to accept the fact that gender, like sexuality, can be fluid. It would have been nice for Luna to have met another role model (in addition to Teri-Lynn) who had not transitioned via sexual reassignment surgery and could show hir another possible way of being. Possibly a way of being happy.

Finally, Luna does not fully express the dangers that transgender people face. Peters acknowledges the possibility of self-inflicted harm and suicide, but leaves harm inflicted by others at what could be described as "mild" bullying. The type of verbal abuse and harassment Luna faces in the novel would cause significant psychological harm. However, I wonder why Peters has not brought up any of the more serious hate crimes - including murder - committed against transgenders. Perhaps it is unfair to expect so much of her - she has opened the door to this topic, but one story cannot bring every aspect of it to life without sounding like an instructional text.

Though the novel has some limitations, I think it will be a valuable edition to the classroom with some supplemental non-fiction reading on the topic (in the form of journal articles, books or videos). Some might say that the subject matter would place it in a high school age range, but I think the writing style makes it accessible to students as young as thirteen. Teachers should assess the maturity levels of students before discussing this book in class, but I feel it is important to expose young students to a transgender character they can attempt to empathize with. The sooner they become comfortable with these kinds of differences, the better able they will be to act as LGBT allies, stop or prevent bullying toward members of any minority, and become advocates for social justice.

"Annual March for Transgender Victims Follows Another Death" HuffPost Los Angeles 11/20/2011