Luna Reflections

The first time I heard of the text Luna was at a workshop I attended last year. The workshop was titled something like “Books for Reluctant Readers,” and a small handful of Special Ed and English teachers from my high school attended with our media specialist. We had the idea that the workshop would be for teachers and media specialists, but we were very wrong. For eight hours, we covered synopses of titles from various genres, and discussed which audiences the titles appealed to. We were some of the only teachers in a sea of media personnel. Still, there were some highlights, and I did learn some new things.

Luna was presented as one of a small handful of texts within the GBLT genre of teen lit, and those who reviewed it could not stop singing its praises. We the audience were advised that if we were to read one book about GBLT issues, then this should be the one. The book was lauded for its treatment of gender identity, as well as for its narrative qualities.

At a glance, it is easy to mistake this text as being about Luna when in fact it is Reagan’s story. As much as Luna is a primary focus throughout the narrative, Liam’s “transition” to becoming comfortable as Luna serves as the catalyst for Reagan’s transition and journey to take place. In the beginning of the text, Reagan is accustomed to hiding Luna, and keeping secrets safe from parents. Though she is very sensitive and supportive of her brother/sister, she also sometimes wishes for a “normal” life, and a chance to find out who she really is. Her living in support of Luna and protecting Liam is consuming, and leaves little opportunity for Reagan to live her own life. In recent years, I have shown the film “Simon Birch” to teach elements of the Hero’s Journey, and the concept of a “catalyst hero” as a part of our unit on archetypes. Luna follows a similar pattern, and could certainly be a text that students could explore to better understand catalyst heroes. In this case, Luna and her journey of self-discovery is the catalyst for Reagan’s own journey.

While I enjoy Reagan and the chance to see this text through her experience, I am a bit curious of the author’s purpose in structuring this narrative in this fashion. Knowing that choices like these are always purposeful in thoughtful literature, it would be interesting to read a bit from the author about choices. My initial thought is that this book serves in part to offer a perspective on the transgendered issues (why does the politically correct term for so many subjects always seem to have the word ‘issues’ attached to it?) to a primarily straight audience, and Reagan’s perspective may help many readers more closely identify with her perspective. As I think about this question further, I am not convinced I have any real idea.

On a somewhat unrelated note, why, how, and when did baseball get the bad wrap of being the patron sport of homophobic fathers in denial? Is this due to the stereotype of boys playing catch in the backyard surrounded by a white picket fence with dad being part of the “American ideal?” This detail seemed uncharacteristically stereotyped in this text.