She’s not too great at school, she has few friends, and she has a crush on a guy who’s way out of her league - but has a crush on her anyway. Instead, it’s about a high school girl named Regan, just your Average Girl. Luna, by Julie Anne Peters (who’s book Keeping You a Secret was the second ever lesbian book I read, after Annie on My Mind), was not just the first book I read that starred a trans character, it’s the first piece of fiction I can remember seeing that treated its trans character as something other than a one-dimensional victim, a freak, a predator or a joke. My entire body remembers what it felt like to be afraid and nervous and excited - mostly excited - to finally read a book that was about someone like me. It’s the same feeling that you get when you’re going up on a roller coaster right before the first big drop. When I first picked up Luna almost a decade after I first read it, I could feel the buzz that I used to get from reading it spreading all throughout my body. Welcome to Were We Ever So Young, a series where we revisit gay/queer books we read as young people that were Very Significant for us and rereading them as adults, noting the differences in our reactions. The Autostraddle Encyclopedia of Lesbian Cinema.

LGBTQ Television Guide: What To Watch Now.

The cats are under the impression that they’re creative geniuses since they spend a majority of their day walking back and forth across her computer keyboard. She lives in Lakewood, Colorado, with her partner, Sherri, and far too many cats. It’s hard to think outside the box when you work in a cube.

Julie loves writing because she gets to be her own boss and doesn’t have to work in an office cubicle. She is a member of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, PEN America, Colorado Authors League, and The Author’s Guild. Julie’s books have been published in numerous countries, including Korea, China, Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil. Her book, Luna, was a National Book Award Finalist Keeping You a Secret was named a Stonewall Honor Book Between Mom and Jo won a Lambda Literary Award and Define “Normal” was voted by young readers as their favorite book of the year in California and Maryland.

Julie Anne Peters is the critically-acclaimed, award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young adults and children.

Luna by julie anne peters