BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSLunar Boy is a graphic novel about Indu, who was found alone on the Moon as a toddler by Captain Dariya Muliadi and raised aboard her spaceship, the Eyesun. Dariya became his mom, and when he was older she invited him to pick his own name. Indu is a trans boy, and life on the Eyesun makes him happy. Then Dariya plans to marry Om Crisanto, and she and Indu move to New Earth, a watery planet where people get around by boat, to live with Crisanto and his kids, Alon and Lastri. At his new school, Indu understands Indonesian but struggles to speak it, classmates gossip about him, and he is stuck with after-school lessons from a peer tutor named Aminah. A pen-pal program pairs him with Noah Wong of the spaceship Bimasakti, who turns out to be easy to talk to. But a mysterious voice from the Moon keeps calling to Indu, asking why he stays on New Earth and whether he is truly happy there.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Lunar Boy
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Lunar Boy. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a new student answer "Space?" when telling the class where he is from?
✓ Answer
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
The teacher asks Indu to introduce himself to the class in Indonesian. He stumbles through it, saying, "Saya from...um. Space? Is that-langit? I think?" while his classmates stare back at him.
- First half
In what book do a man's first tattoos stand for stability and support?
✓ Answer
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
On the rooftop, Om Crisanto shows Indu his Kemajuan tattoos and explains, "These were the first tattoos I received. They represent stability and support." He got the lower ones after Alon and Lastri were born, and he says the idea is that he carries his family with him wherever he goes.
- First half
In what book does a pen pal say that in space, they would be a comet?
✓ Answer
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
Watching the stars together, Noah asks, "If you could be anything in space, what would you be?" Noah picks a comet, saying, "I'd fly away to a place where... ...no one could tell me who to be," and Indu says, "I get that."
- Second half
In what book does a stepsister kick a bedroom door open while balancing two plates of dinner?
✓ Answer
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
After Om Crisanto calls her to come get dinner, Lastri kicks open the door to Indu's room, balancing two plates with books tucked under her arm. She has brought her comics for Indu, saying, "You need words and pictures, right? So read this!"
- Second half
In what book does an elder at a community center call himself "an old priawan"?
✓ Answer
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
When Indu says he doesn't know where he fits in because "I came from nowhere," Pak Ismaya tells him he still shares history with them. "Take it from an old priawan," he says, adding, "We both share the future." Over the meal that follows, he explains that the term covers a variety of masculine transgender experiences.
- Near the end
In what book does a stepbrother come out as panromantic while kneeling in a family temple?
✓ Answer
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
Inside the family temple, Alon tells Indu he always overthought how he would come out to his family and wasn't ready to tell his dad. Then he says, "But I'm ready to tell you. I'm panromantic, Indu," and Indu answers that it means a lot having another queer person in the family.
