I am starting my review of Lunar Boy with: I have questions. None are about the story itself, which is, a child from the Moon is adopted by a woman from New Earth. They live on a space station until the mother, in the process of helping her New Earth friend deal with the death of his wife, falls in love, marries, and moves to New Earth. Then, Indu (the child) must deal with not just the stress of a move to a new home, school, culture and language, but the stress of a blended family (a step-sister who only speaks Indonesian so he can’t understand her and assumes she’d never understand him) a step-brother who seems to want nothing to do with him to the point of being cruel (yet Indu would do anything to become his friend/brother), a stepfather who tries, but makes mistakes, as well as his mother is busy with her work and bonding with her new children. On top of all that, they are dealing with their own understanding of who they are, things about gender, and love overall.
No, my questions are (in no order, and not limited to): Why is Indu a feminine name (via my research), but they are a trans boy? (One clue something was happening, is the fact the art/word bubble has scratched out the (I’m assuming) deadname before we realize they are trans). And why is Indu being trans seemingly “sprung on us” without a lot of lead up, or hints there is something going on? Why is so much set in space without explanation? (Not just the living there, but the family temple is in space as well.) Why didn’t we see more about Indu as a female? (But to be honest, I thought they were a boy, or nonbinary, from the start, due to the way they were presented) Are the authors (Jes and Cin Wibowo) waria? And then, after some research on some terms used, and the way many characters are dressed, why does the family seem Muslim, but that is not touched on?
With that said, these questions come from the fact that the story dives into the queer community of Indonesian culture, but is trying to put a lot into a small graphic novel format. I wanted to know more about these people themselves by having a setting, more background, of where they are coming from. I had a small issue with liking people or feeling for them because there was nothing there to flesh them out. It’s almost as if we’re seeing things via Indu’s eyes, while also not because we do see others in a way Indu wouldn’t have known about. However, a lot of what we learn is when our main character learns something.
And though many of our main characters are dealing with being in the queer community, a lot of the focus is on the idea that characters are just dealing with life. One character is dealing with she’s “waria” (but does not use that term) and the prejudices of the other students because of how she presents, one is dealing with he is panromantic (which might be one of the only (if not only) times I’ve seen this term used in a book, and if if is used usually it is pansexual), one is dealing with being bi and/or non-binary, one is dealing with her understanding of herself. Plus, we have the parents trying to adapt to having a blended family, the siblings dealing with the death of their mother and a new brother, Indu dealing with feelings they are having about his school pen pal (what if they don’t like him the same way? Why have they stopped talking to them?), and the brother dealing with needing space but not able to say that, not to mention his troubles with his partner. And Indu also needs to learn how he is not really the “important one” and it’s not always “all about him” and they need to understand that others need help, but sometimes they are not ready for it, and sometimes others do need help but can’t or don’t know how to ask for it, and sometimes you just have to stand up for yourself and others.
This is just a nice, cute, thoughtful book that most ages can read or have read to them. However, I would recommend it for ages 10 to (younger) 14, just because the concepts can be older, but the content is fairly tame. The most “adult” things we see are the parents in bed together (snuggling) and a couple people kissing. This is shown with images that are like the cover, which is bright, bubbly, not overly detailed. But like all illustrations, look at them as there are some small details that can help you move the story forward. They are both busy, warm, calm and cool. I assume any bumps I had are due to translation issues my brain can have with translations (as I’m also assuming this wasn’t written in English, as the authors are Indonesian). I’m giving this a four because there is a lot of fun and interesting and educational things happening. While it is not perfect, it is a good addition to the GLBTQ community.
Publisher description says things are reminiscent of Le Petit Prince/The Little Prince (at least one image is obvious with this connections)
