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Luna
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From: Elliott BatTzedek <ebattzedek>
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:41:15 -0400
I just finished reading Luna, and passed to my neighbor's 14 year-old daughter, with whom I've spent a lot of time since she was a toddler. Her older brother/sister has recently begun identifying as trans, and it has been a very difficult time for my friend. (Not just the trans issue, but general family dynamics and her brother/sister's history of emotional and mental health problems). We both loved the book, especially the author's brave choice to have Regan be more than an all-supporting martyr. That Regan has a life of her own, that she loves and supports and fights with and is furious at Liam/Luna is very real, and certainly flies in the face of many "hot issue" novels which are so concerned with being sympathetic/didactic.
As a lesbian myself, I second the mention of Empress of the World. There weren't lesbian novels when I was a teen (I didn't even know the word); that a lesbian YA novel could be about a crush and how it plays out without painful, humiliating coming out scenes, shows how very far we've come. That it is withheld from so many actual young adults, of course, shows how very far we have to go.
Elliott batTzedek Content Supervisor Children's Literacy Initiative 215V1F76 ext. 114
Received on Thu 01 Jul 2004 03:41:15 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:41:15 -0400
I just finished reading Luna, and passed to my neighbor's 14 year-old daughter, with whom I've spent a lot of time since she was a toddler. Her older brother/sister has recently begun identifying as trans, and it has been a very difficult time for my friend. (Not just the trans issue, but general family dynamics and her brother/sister's history of emotional and mental health problems). We both loved the book, especially the author's brave choice to have Regan be more than an all-supporting martyr. That Regan has a life of her own, that she loves and supports and fights with and is furious at Liam/Luna is very real, and certainly flies in the face of many "hot issue" novels which are so concerned with being sympathetic/didactic.
As a lesbian myself, I second the mention of Empress of the World. There weren't lesbian novels when I was a teen (I didn't even know the word); that a lesbian YA novel could be about a crush and how it plays out without painful, humiliating coming out scenes, shows how very far we've come. That it is withheld from so many actual young adults, of course, shows how very far we have to go.
Elliott batTzedek Content Supervisor Children's Literacy Initiative 215V1F76 ext. 114
Received on Thu 01 Jul 2004 03:41:15 PM CDT
