58 pages 1 hour read

Laurie Frankel

This Is How It Always Is

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

During Reading

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?