It’s refreshing, honestly, to see main characters who feel so real and face such real, relevant problems.Ĥ. But also, there’s a transgender child. The characters acknowledge when they mess up, and they work to fix their mistakes. It’s refreshing to see parents in a novel second-guess themselves and consider their choices. There is constant growth and change in this novel, which I think is a large part of why I loved it so much. This book is, first and foremost, about loving your children and trying to do the best for them.ģ. The characters in this novel are dynamic. Being a parent is hard, y’all (I imagine, anyway), and making choices is not always clear cut and straightforward. Over and over again, we are confronted with Rosie and Penn’s choices and watching them contend with the consequences of those choices. Because the narrative is from the point of view of the parents, this is a book about loving your child(ren) and figuring out how to give them the best life they can live. I mean, aside from the 5 year old who loves to wear dresses, this book is not truly about transgender children. This was my first pick of the year, and it presented the unique point of view of parents of a transgender child.Ģ. But this book is not really controversial. Last year, I ended up reading 14 books that fit this category, and I loved (most of) them. In an effort to read more diversely, I plan on reading one LGBT+ book each month this year. But as problems begin at school and in the community, the family faces a seemingly impossible dilemma: should Claude change, or should they and Claude try to change the world?ġ. This is an LGBT+ book. Life continues happily for this big, loving family until the day when Claude says that, when he grows up, he wants to be a girl.Īs far as Rosie and Penn are concerned, bright, funny and wonderful Claude can be whoever he or she wants.

Four sons later, they decide to try one last time – and their beautiful little boy Claude is born.

This is how it always is book