How it always should be

Rosie and Penn have five growing sons. At least, that's what they think.

When their youngest child, Claude, is five years old, he starts telling them that when he grows up, he wants to be a girl scientist. He wants to be a girl doctor... he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn are very present parents. They are very liberal people. They are open-minded and at first just have a gender-neutral household. Sure, Claude can wear a dress if he wants to. His grandmother buys him a pink bikini and they don't argue with her about it. They let him grow his hair out.

Eventually, it's pretty clear that Claude is a girl, and when Claude asks, the family makes a seamless transition along with her. Just like that, Claude is Poppy.

Penn and Rosie are doing their best for their child. They even move the family to a more liberal part of the country in hopes of keeping Poppy safe and happy. They have meetings via Skype with a social worker who helps them navigate these waters. Sometimes it seems that they've overcorrected and done too good a job, and this is also to Poppy's detriment.

But who can tell what the right thing to do is in every situation? There is no control sample in a human life. Parents have to keep making the best choice the best they can, and then again, and again, and hope for the best. This is how it always is.

I gave this book a solid 5. The writing is stellar and the subject is handled with great care. Poppy does seem a little too old for her age sometimes, but that's chalked up to having four older siblings. Rosie and Penn are the parents that ever trans child deserves.