Do you think their conclusions are accurate? Are they fair? Discuss what you think it means to be a man, a woman, or “something else.”ģ. In what ways does the book tackle typical definitions of boys and girls, men and women? Did it change your view of gender and identity as you read?Ĥ. When Rosie first takes Poppy on playdates with other girls, the moms begin telling her how brave she is. Tongo about Claude, he asks them to divide behaviors into “boy” and “girl” columns. In love with literature? Try audio books or writing classes for free for 30 days.✨ Book Club Questions for This Is How It Always Isġ. How do the epigraphs help prepare the reader for the many crossroads the Walsh-Adams family will have to face? What about the first word of the novel, “but”?Ģ. When Rosie and Penn first go to see Mr. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. Laurie Frankel’s This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. This is how children change…and then change the world. This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how it always is novel