Lunar Boy

by Jes & Cin Wibowo.  Published by HarperAlley, 2024

Lunar Boy is a heartwarming coming-of-age sci-fi graphic novel about a young trans boy named Indu who, just by chance, is discovered by an Indonesian space traveler named Dariya as her spaceship, the Eyesun, is passing a small moon isolated from the orbit of nearby planets.  When Dariya realizes there is a boy living alone with no parents on this small planet, she invites him to come aboard the Eyesun, where he will have a soft bed, meals prepared for him every day, and a family of his own.  Indu decides to leave Moon, for this new adventure, even though Moon warns, “My Child, know that if you leave, your heart will know of change and pain.”   On the Eyesun, Dariya becomes Indu’s adoptive mother, and the spaceship crew become his family.  Life is good! 

Things change when Dariya and Indu disembark from the Eyesun to live on New Earth with a blended family that includes a dad named Crisanto, and a sister and brother.  Indu finds it hard to adjust to the changes on New Earth, and he misses the tight-knit community on the Eyesun spaceship.  His new brother, Alon, rejects him, and Indu doesn’t understand why.  At school, Indu doesn’t speak the language, Indonesian, so he can’t communicate with the other kids, and he doesn’t understand the teachers and the classroom instructions.  His habits and ways are so different from other kids that they tease him and call him Lunar Boy. 

At his lowest moment, Indu calls to Moon and begs to return home.  Moon agrees that Indu can come back on the first day of the New Year.  However, will Indu want to return to Moon, when a school project brings him a pen pal friend named Noah who is supportive and understanding, and who just might have a crush on Indu?  Additionally, Indu is given a tutor, a trans girl named Aminah, to help him with the language barrier, and Aminah introduces Indu to the Bhinneka Community Center, where the local queer community meets up.  Indu’s tour guide at the Bhinneka Center relates:

In many of the old world’s cultures, queer people used to be important leaders and spiritual figures.  When our ancestral homeland was colonized, invaders forced the queer people of our islands into hiding or worse.  So for the longest time people on Earth thought there was something wrong with being queer.  After all that’s happened, queer people today are just trying to figure out how we fit back into everything again.

Life is finally moving in the right direction for Indu.  He is developing friendships and community, and a new sense of family that understand, accept, and love him for who he is.  What will Indu decide when he must face Moon and make the ultimate decision?  This exceptional graphic novel, which has amazing art and a well written affirming story, is geared for tweens and teens.

In January, Lunar Boy received the 2025 Stonewall Book Award for Children’s Literature.  Sponsored by the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table, this award honors books for their exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience. 

Jes and Cin Wibowo are Chinese Indonesian identical twin comic writers, artists, and colorists born in Jakarta.  As third-culture kids, they spent their early childhood years moving back and forth between the US and Indonesia.  The two both graduated with a BFA and eventually an MFA in sequential arts from Savannah College of Art and Design.  Learn more at jesncin.com.

This book review was submitted by Stand with Trans
advocate Barb Shumer, who is a past board member and
retired public librarian.