The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Lukoff, Kyle. Too Bright to See. Dial Books, April 20, 2021. Kindle.

In the children’s novel Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff, Bug’s best friend Moira advises boyish Bug that she can make a fresh start for herself in middle school. Bug, who is still dealing with grief after the death of her uncle, is not ready for any major changes and is not sure that wearing makeup and dresses will make that much difference in the way others think about her. Bug, who has always believed her house is haunted, begins experiencing scary dreams and finding things in places they do not belong. She determines it is her late uncle, trying to send her a message about who she is.

Bug knows the moment her Uncle Roderick dies. She wakes from her sleep feeling as if her world is out of balance. Since his death, she has noticed ghost activity in her house that scares her, unlike the hauntings she and her uncle identified in the past. On the day of his memorial service, the dress Bug is wearing appears to get caught on a door frame and rips. But, when Bug looks, she cannot find what caught it. Uncle Roderick’s high school yearbook winds up in one of Bug’s drawers, opened to the page on which his picture is displayed. An Oscar Wilde quote printed below his picture admonishes her to be herself.

Meanwhile, Bug’s best friend, Moira, is remaking herself for the beginning of middle school. Moira asks not to be called by her nickname any longer and suggests that Bug do the same. She has also started experimenting with makeup and dressing in feminine clothes.

Bug, meanwhile, struggles to identify who she wants to be. She notes there are times when she looks in the mirror that her face does not look like her own. She screams when she looks at herself after Moira has given her a makeover. She feels uncomfortable wearing dresses and talking about boys, but she thinks perhaps she just needs more practice to feel comfortable.

Bug manages to contact her uncle’s spirit using a Ouija board. His message to her is to be herself, but Bug is not sure how to go about discovering who she is. She is excited and disturbed to find a collection of LGBTQ materials under her uncle’s bed. She had always believed transgender people had issues with just their private parts. She is surprised to learn they have a general feeling of being uncomfortable with their bodies.

At a sleepover for her twelfth birthday, Bug has a strange dream in which her uncle, dressed in drag, hands her a set of electric trimmers and asks if she is ready. Bug wakes with a shaved head and the realization that she is a transgender boy.

Bug fears how his mother will react to the news. Although she accepted her homosexual brother, Bug is afraid she might react differently when it is her child who announces he has gender dysphoria. Bug’s mother, however, accepts the decision with love. She arranges a meeting with Bug’s new principal to ensure that Bug will be treated like other children and that the staff and students will be required to address him as a boy. Bug’s friends are understanding and supportive of the change. Because it was Bug’s uncle who helped Bug determine who he is, Bug adopts Roderick’s middle name, Thomas, as his new name.