Mood:
celebratoryNow Playing: Luna: A Novel By Julie Anne Peters
Topic: Book Reviews
I've been reading a lot of Young Adult novels since February--since I started my job as a YA librarian. Most of the books I've read have been fluffy, predictable, or popular (to the teens) fiction. In June, I set up a Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender book display to commemorate GLBT Pride month. You see, this is my gig. I set up special book displays to attract teens to books that they normally wouldn't pick up. Unfortunately, the books didn't move that much. I guess the girls in the detention center I visit are the only ones who aren't afraid to demand Gay and Lesbian fiction.
Okay...so I've read plenty of GLBT YA novels. I've read Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys, Rainbow High, and So Hard to Say (which I couldn't finish, but hey it's not written for me anyway). I also read and enjoyed M.E. Kerr's Deliver Us From Evie. I also read Brent Tattinger's (?) The Geography Club. After awhile, though, you read one novel about a teen coming out of the closet you read them all. Except, when you read Luna.
Luna is an emotionally dense story about Regan, Liam, and their parents the O'Neills. The overarching theme is that this family is trapped by their secrets and circumstances. Liam is a girl living in a boy's body, and decides to break free from his prison by beginning to transition (he starts to dress as woman in public and goes by the name Luna). Younger sister Regan is seemingly the only one who knows of his situation, and works so hard to keep it a secret that she has no time or energy to work on her own life. The O'Neills are trapped by the circumstances of their lives--neither one of them or their children have lived up to their expectations.
This tale, told from Regan's perspective, goes between present day events and the past. In the memories that Regan recalls, she wonders how people couldn't have known that her brother Liam has had Luna trapped inside of him for a very long time. Luna is a wonderfully written and touching book. Not only that, it is the first fiction book about Transgender teens that I've ever read or heard about. (One of the best books I've read about being TG and its effect on the family is the memoir--Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods---My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine
Okay, now that I've searched both of these books on Amazon.com, I'm sure that all of my recommendations will be about Transsexuals. *sigh* I wonder if Amazon.com's recommendations will ever get it close to being right. I'm a complex woman damnit and I have many interests. Don't pigeon hole me, Amazon!!!! BTW, happy 10th Anniversary.
I almost wrote Julie Anne Peters a fan letter. Well, I still might. :-) Check her out: Julie Anne Peters