61 pages • 2 hours read
This Is How It Always Is
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Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
PART 1, CHAPTERS 1-8
Reading Check
1. Where did Rosie and Penn meet?
2. What does Claude wear in a play and then refuse to take off, even when it is time to go to school?
3. What does Claude dress up as for Halloween?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Rosie suspect might be the reason it is so important to her to have a daughter?
2. What two purposes do stories have, according to Penn?
3. How does Claude’s grandmother Carmelo react to Claude’s interest in clothing traditionally worn by women?
Paired Resource
“Texas Supreme Court OKs State Child Abuse Inquiries Into the Families of Trans Kids”
- This NPR article discusses Texas’s approach to the parents of transgender children.
- This resource relates to the themes of The Dangers and Realities of Transphobia and The Challenges of Parenting.
- How might the average person evaluate arguments on this topic and come to a fact-based understanding? What advantages do Penn and Rosie have that many parents might not? What evidence suggests that they are struggling, regardless of these advantages?
“Debunking Common Myths About Gender-Affirming Care for Youth”
- This 7-minute PBS interview with Yale’s Dr. Meredithe McNamara offers a medical perspective on the controversies surrounding gender-affirming care for minors. (A transcript of this interview is available on the same page.)
- This resource relates to the themes of The Dangers and Realities of Transphobia and The Challenges of Parenting.
- How does Dr. McNamara connect the growing visibility of trans youth with the misinformed belief that there is an “epidemic” of transgender young people? What consequences does this have? How might this impact a parent’s reaction to a child who expresses some form of gender dysphoria?
PART 1, CHAPTERS 9-14
Reading Check
1. What does Mr. Tongo ask Rosie and Penn to keep a log of?
2. What will mark the transition from Claude to Poppy, at least for Rosie?
3. Which of the children is most upset about the move to Seattle?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What conclusion do Rosie and Penn come to about their wishes for their children during the New Year’s Eve party?
2. How is the staff’s reaction different from the children’s when Claude begins going to school dressed as a fairy girl?
3. What experience does Rosie have at work that reinforces her understanding of how dangerous life can be for transgender people?
Paired Resource
“Transgender People Over Four Times More Likely Than Cisgender People To Be Victims of Violent Crime”
- This factsheet from the UCLA School of Law discusses statistics related to crimes against transgender people.
- This resource relates to the theme of The Dangers and Realities of Transphobia.
- Given the information in this factsheet, do you think that Rosie’s fears for her child are realistic? Do Rosie and Penn make the right decision by moving the family to Seattle?
PART 2, CHAPTERS 15-22
Reading Check
1. What acronym do Poppy and her friends use for themselves?
2. Where does Penn put Poppy’s pajamas so that she can change into them privately during the sleepover?
3. Who accidentally reveals Poppy’s secret at a neighborhood barbecue?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why do the new next-door neighbors in Seattle pressure Penn and Rosie to hide Poppy’s status as a transgender girl?
2. What point is Penn trying to make to Rosie when she says that she misses “Claude” and he replies that she is upstairs, playing with Aggie?
3. How does their conversation with Mrs. Birkus reveal to Rosie and Penn that Roo is struggling to adjust to life in Seattle?
Paired Resource
“Why Girls Can Be Boyish but Boys Can’t Be Girlish”
- This CNN article explores the status-related phenomenon of expanded gender role boundaries for girls despite the still-rigid gender role boundaries for boys.
- This resource relates to the theme of The Ambiguity of Gendered Behavior.
- What point does this article make about why boys are ridiculed for stereotypically feminine behavior while stereotypically masculine behavior is allowed in girls? How does this relate to Aggie’s and Poppy’s situations?
PART 2, CHAPTERS 23-30
Reading Check
1. Why does Roo get into a fistfight with Derek McGuinness?
2. What is the “hedge enemy” that Poppy asks Penn about?
3. Where does Rosie get an opportunity to travel for volunteer work?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What motivates Ben to tell Cayenne that Poppy is transgender?
2. Why does Poppy call Rosie at work?
3. How does Poppy react to the bullying she received at school?
Paired Resource
“Sexual Assault, Harassment, Bullying: Trans Students Say They're Targeted at School”
- This NBC News story relates the experiences of several trans students who have experienced bullying and discrimination at school.
- This resource relates to the theme of The Dangers and Realities of Transphobia.
- How serious and widespread is the bullying of trans students in school? How are some schools contributing to this problem? What do you think schools, like Poppy’s, should be doing in response?
PART 3, CHAPTERS 31-35
Reading Check
1. What does Poppy say will be her “punishment” as they get ready to leave for Thailand in Chapter 32?
2. What is the person who serves as the clinic’s mechanic, ambulance driver, and midwife called?
3. When the children at the Bangkok school ask Poppy/Claude what she wants to be when she grows up, what is the first word that springs into Poppy’s/Claude’s mind?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Which people in Bangkok amaze and inspire Poppy/Claude?
2. How is Poppy/Claude’s reception at the Bangkok school different and surprising?
3. What parallel does Rosie draw between her experiences at the Bangkok clinic and her experiences as Poppy’s/Claude’s mother?
PARTS 3-4, CHAPTERS 36-41
Reading Check
1. What way of life does K urge Rosie to accept?
2. What book does Penn finally sell?
3. Who unexpectedly dances with Poppy at the school Valentine’s dance?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What realization does Poppy/Claude come to while talking to Penn about the future?
2. What does Rosie tell Poppy/Claude during the festival that reverses an earlier sentiment she voiced to Penn?
3. Why does Grumwald not want to share his secret, and what does the witch say in response?
Recommended Next Reads
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai
- In this award-winning novel, Selvadurai tells the story of Arjie, a boy struggling to understand his sexuality and gender identity as he comes of age in war-torn Sri Lanka.
- Shared themes include The Ambiguity of Gendered Behavior, The Dangers and Realities of Transphobia, and The Challenges of Parenting.
- Shared topics include realistic fiction, family dynamics, coming of age, bullying, and acceptance of one’s own identity.
- Funny Boy on SuperSummary
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
- Although technically a YA title, Felix Ever After is a highly regarded and nuanced novel about Felix Love, a Black, queer, and transgender teenager who must navigate a world determined to marginalize him as he tries to find himself and maybe even love.
- Shared themes include The Ambiguity of Gendered Behavior, The Dangers and Realities of Transphobia, and The Challenges of Parenting.
- Shared topics include realistic fiction, family dynamics, coming of age, school experiences, bullying, and acceptance of one’s own identity.
- Felix Ever After on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
PART 1, CHAPTERS 1-8
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. Rosie had a sister, Poppy, who died when they were still children. She suspects that her deep longing for a daughter might be related to wanting to fill the void left in her life by Poppy’s death. (Chapter 1)
2. Penn says that stories have two purposes: to tell themselves and to be mysterious. (Chapter 4)
3. Claude’s grandmother, Carmelo, supports Claude by buying Claude a pink bikini, letting Claude try on her clothing, makeup, and jewelry, and buying Claude a purse. (Chapter 6)
PART 1, CHAPTERS 9-14
Reading Check
1. Claude’s “female” and “male” behaviors (Chapter 9)
2. When Claude’s hair grows out (Chapter 12)
3. Roo/Roosevelt (Chapter 14)
Short Answer
1. Penn and Rosie realize that they cannot guarantee their children everything they might wish for them, so they hope their children will have beautiful, interesting lives, and—while their children’s lives may not always be easy—they hope their children will find happiness. (Chapter 10)
2. The staff is agitated and presses Penn and Rosie to determine whether their child should be identified as a girl or a boy, but the other kindergarteners are unperturbed by Claude’s clothing choices. (Chapter 11)
3. Rosie loses a patient in the ER who ended up there because she was beaten and shot during a hate crime, which was directed against her because she was transgender. (Chapter 13)
PART 2, CHAPTERS 15-22
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. The Grandersons, Aggie’s parents, ask Poppy’s parents not to disclose her sex assigned at birth because they say this would complicate Aggie’s developing friendship with Poppy. (Chapter 16)
2. Penn is trying to get Rosie to see that all children grow and change, and that Poppy is a continuation of the child she once thought of as her son Claude—not a new person who replaced Claude. (Chapter 17)
3. Mrs. Birkus explains that Roo is failing history, which they did not know. She also reveals that he has created a video detailing reasons that members of the LGBTQIA+ community should not serve in the US military. (Chapter 21)
PART 2, CHAPTERS 23-30
Reading Check
1. Derek’s homophobic comments (Chapter 24)
2. Hegemony, superior influence or authority over others (Chapter 26)
3. Thailand (Chapter 30)
Short Answer
1. He is tired of keeping the secret and believes that it is wrong to keep secrets from people you love. He is also motivated by the possibility of getting closer to Cayenne and increasing their physical intimacy. (Chapter 25)
2. To tell her all of Poppy’s classmates have found out that she is transgender. (Chapter 27)
3. Poppy cuts her hair off and insists that she is going back to being Claude. She also refuses to go back to school. (Chapter 29)
PART 3, CHAPTERS 31-35
Reading Check
Short Answer
1. In Bangkok, there are many transgender women living their lives openly. Poppy/Claude finds these women beautiful and inspiring. (Chapter 32)
2. At the Bangkok school, the children openly call Poppy/Claude “pretty,” although Poppy/Claude is currently presenting as a boy. This indicates a wider latitude for gender expression than Poppy/Claude has experienced before. (Chapter 34)
3. Rosie sees herself becoming more inventive and skillful at solving medical problems in the less-than-ideal conditions of the clinic. She hopes that she can grow similarly as a parent as she tries to solve problems for Poppy/Claude. (Chapter 35)
PARTS 3-4, CHAPTERS 36-41
Reading Check
1. The “middle way” (289) (Chapter 37)
2. The fairy tale of Grumwald and Princess Stephanie (Chapter 39)
3. Jake Irving (Chapter 41)
Short Answer
1. As Poppy/Claude talks with Penn, it becomes clear that a future as Poppy is easier to picture and feels more fulfilling than a future as Claude. (Chapter 36)
2. Rosie says that she misses Poppy, which is the opposite of the time she told Penn that she missed Claude. (Chapter 38)
3. He worries that sharing his secret will be complicated, but the witch tells him that life is always complicated. (Chapter 40)
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