Is it sweet, nice, neat? I would argue not. but it was also a deeply emotional reading experience for me, too. Those are two things that can turn me off a book right away.īut, for whatever reason, This is How It Always Is was the exception to the rule. On the other hand, the few negative reviews have been calling it words like 'sentimental', and even Kirkus begrudgingly admitted that it is 'cloying at times'. On the one hand, the premise interested me, the critics' reviews have been gushing, and the average GR rating is impressive. I've been going back and forth on whether I wanted to read this for a while. This, Rosie reflected, even at the time, was true. Usually boys don’t wear dresses to preschool,” Rosie admitted carefully. 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. 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. Alternate cover edition of ASIN B01HW6Z3FG

This is how it always is cover