Lunar Boy by Jes Wibowo (review)

Reviewed by: Lunar Boy by Jes Wibowo Meg Cornell Wibowo, Jes Lunar Boy; written and illus. by Jes Wibowo and Cin Wibowo. HarperAlley, 2024 240p Trade ed. ISBN 9780063057609 24. 99 Paper ed. ISBN 9780063057593 15. 99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063057616 9. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 6-8 Despite the Moon's warning that pain waits for Indu if he leaves its lonely surface, Indu decides to go with the space traveler who offers to take him to the Eyesun spaceship, where he is welcomed by a supportive community and adopted into a loving family. However, when his mom finds love with a widowed friend and moves Indu to New Earth, the Moon's insistence that change only brings suffering might be true in Indu's case. Now Mom's usually busy at work, Indu's big stepbrother wants nothing to do with him, and a language barrier prevents him from getting to know his stepsister or the kids at school. A cute pen pal-crush from space provides some friendship and relief—until they stop answering Indu's texts. Indu makes a desperate pact with the Moon to return by the first day of the New Year, and yet finds himself building bonds within his blended family, as well as a caring transgender and queer community of peers and elders. Indonesian language and culture are focal in this middle grade graphic novel, with the Wibowos artfully conveying Indu's isolation End Page 339 and connection in his new home through Indonesian dialog and region-specific conversations regarding gender and sexuality. Nods to The Little Prince are obvious in panel composition, affect, and theme, but this offering is nonetheless a fresh, empathetic tale of a transmasculine moon-boy's journey toward understanding one's space and the space that's sometimes necessary to give others. An expansive, organic palette with pastel pops of trans-flag pride cozily moves between cool spaceship interiors and neon holo-gardens to the winding waterways and light-dappled school rooms on New Earth, all with inclusive and friendly character design that leaves readers feeling dipped in sun/moonshine. This graphic novel well-suits fans of The Tea Dragon Society series and Robin Ha's Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir (BCCB 12/19). Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois