This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel (A Review by Erin Woodward)
I always love going into the Flatiron Building in New York. It’s such an awesome building, a New York relic really. So when Flatiron Books invited me over I jumped at the opportunity, a week in New York isn’t really complete without checking out their incredible list.
We went over a bunch of books, as I always do in these meetings – but there is always one that jumps out at me and I can’t seem to bear to leave without it in my hot little hands. I try not to take books with me – especially in New York since getting them home is always a struggle, fortunately, I finished this one before I left and with a little sadness, I left it behind for my aunt and cousins to read. Because I believe in passing books on – I don’t reread books and I don’t horde them.
This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel isn’t a story I’ve read before or a version of a story I’ve read before. It was completely unique and a topic I know nothing about. Rosie and Penn, a strong couple have 5 children (yup, 5) and all of them are boys. Claude, their youngest at three decides he wants to wear dresses and do his hair with barrettes. Rosie and Penn know all about boys, they do have 4 others, and this isn’t something they know about. Claude becomes Poppy and Rosie and Penn decide to move their family across the country so that they can provide their family with a safer environment for their children to grow up – especially Poppy who will encounter issues that her family isn’t really sure how to deal with.
I loved this book. I really recommend it. It’s so relevant and current and gives you a real insight into the world of sexual identity for children. It examines gender stereotypes and I found myself asking why we give dolls to girls and trucks to boys? Why we dress girls in pink and boys in blue? Shouldn’t it be up to them to decide?