On the same page
2023-2024 Claremont Community Read
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel creates a fictional family with 5 children, each of whom is a unique young person, each with quirks and interests that need to be dealt with as the family moves forward. The story is told with care, joy, research and professional input, humor, and a great deal of sensitivity. An added feature is a grand mythology that runs like a tune through the book.
Read more about the book on the author's website:
https://www.lauriefrankel.net/this-is-how-it-always-is.html
Laurie Frankel: In Conversation
In an interview, she reminded us that "family' and 'normal' are both wider and more complicated than we like to imagine." And our On the Same Page book this year is definitely filled with the complications of family life.
Laurie Frankel: In Conversation March 16, 2024 event flyer> 03-16-2024__lauriefrankel_flyer.pdf
Read/listen to Janice Hoffmann's short review of This is How it Always Is: Is this the Way it Always Has Been?
storiesbyjanus.substack.com/p/is-this-the-way-it-always-has-been
Books are available for checkout and purchase ($15) at the library.
Panel Discussion: This Is How It Is With Us
Saturday, February 24, 2024, 10 A.M., Claremont Library Meeting Room
We have created a panel of people whose lives have been affected by the very issues that have made our 2023-24 On The Same Page book so important. Our panel will consist of Elizabeth Moore, who will speak about how her family accepted and then embraced her 20-year-old granddaughter's identity and the challenges she continues to face.
And we welcome our FOCL board secretary, Annie Gebhardt and her partner, Erin Talvitie. They have been together for 22 years. After the first 16, Erin began questioning her gender, and together, they made the transition and remained happily together.
They will talk about real experiences as our trans children grow up and create their lives and connect and expand their observations with those presented by Laurie Frankel in her book This Is How It Always Is.
This Is How It Is For Us February 24, 2024 event flyer > otsp__feb_24__panel_flyer.pdf
Featured speaker: Natalie Taylor, EdD
In a climate of policy debates surrounding our district's LGBTQ+ students and families, Natalie Taylor, EdD, Director of Intervention and English Language Programs at Claremont Unified School District, will be speaking about CUSD's commitment to working with students, teachers, parents, and the community to help keep our potentially marginalized young people engaged, creating safe, affirming environments for all.
On the Same Page prioritized the topic of 'gender dysphoria and the family' when they chose This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel for the Claremont Community Read, and we saw how the fictional schools dealt with the needs of the character Poppy. Natalie Taylor will be with us to speak about inclusion in the Claremont schools and to answer questions.
Where We Belong January 20, 2024 event flyer > 01-20-24_otsp-wherewebelong.pdf
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel creates a fictional family with 5 children, each of whom is a unique young person, each with quirks and interests that need to be dealt with as the family moves forward. The story is told with care, joy, research and professional input, humor, and a great deal of sensitivity. An added feature is a grand mythology that runs like a tune through the book.
Read more about the book on the author's website:
https://www.lauriefrankel.net/this-is-how-it-always-is.html
Laurie Frankel: In Conversation
- Saturday, March 16, 2024, 1:00 P.M.
- Padua Room at the Hughes Center, 1700 Danbury Road, Claremont.
In an interview, she reminded us that "family' and 'normal' are both wider and more complicated than we like to imagine." And our On the Same Page book this year is definitely filled with the complications of family life.
Laurie Frankel: In Conversation March 16, 2024 event flyer> 03-16-2024__lauriefrankel_flyer.pdf
Read/listen to Janice Hoffmann's short review of This is How it Always Is: Is this the Way it Always Has Been?
storiesbyjanus.substack.com/p/is-this-the-way-it-always-has-been
Books are available for checkout and purchase ($15) at the library.
Panel Discussion: This Is How It Is With Us
Saturday, February 24, 2024, 10 A.M., Claremont Library Meeting Room
We have created a panel of people whose lives have been affected by the very issues that have made our 2023-24 On The Same Page book so important. Our panel will consist of Elizabeth Moore, who will speak about how her family accepted and then embraced her 20-year-old granddaughter's identity and the challenges she continues to face.
And we welcome our FOCL board secretary, Annie Gebhardt and her partner, Erin Talvitie. They have been together for 22 years. After the first 16, Erin began questioning her gender, and together, they made the transition and remained happily together.
They will talk about real experiences as our trans children grow up and create their lives and connect and expand their observations with those presented by Laurie Frankel in her book This Is How It Always Is.
This Is How It Is For Us February 24, 2024 event flyer > otsp__feb_24__panel_flyer.pdf
- Where We Belong ~ Creating Inclusive Environments for LGBTQIA+ Students and their Families
Featured speaker: Natalie Taylor, EdD
In a climate of policy debates surrounding our district's LGBTQ+ students and families, Natalie Taylor, EdD, Director of Intervention and English Language Programs at Claremont Unified School District, will be speaking about CUSD's commitment to working with students, teachers, parents, and the community to help keep our potentially marginalized young people engaged, creating safe, affirming environments for all.
On the Same Page prioritized the topic of 'gender dysphoria and the family' when they chose This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel for the Claremont Community Read, and we saw how the fictional schools dealt with the needs of the character Poppy. Natalie Taylor will be with us to speak about inclusion in the Claremont schools and to answer questions.
Where We Belong January 20, 2024 event flyer > 01-20-24_otsp-wherewebelong.pdf
What is On The Same Page?
The Friends of the Claremont Library sponsors the annual citywide reading program: Claremont: On the Same Page. We engage as many people as possible in the discussion of one book as the basis for a common experience.
Local reading groups and educators are encouraged to read the book as part of their activities or curriculum. After the book is selected in September, a variety of local events are offered to discuss the book and topics related to it. All events are all free and open to the public. We would love you to join us in reading these books, and to attend as many events as possible. |
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Past selections include:
- 2022 A Fire Story by Brian Fries
- 2021 Always a Song by Ellen Harper
- 2020 Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- 2019 The Library Book by Susan Orlean
- 2018 The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
- 2017 Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California by Frances Dinkelspiel
- 2016 Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
- 2015 Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- 2014 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- 2013 Take one Candle Light A Room by Susan Straight
- 2012 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- 2011 Into the Beautiful North: A Novel by Luis Alberto Urrea
- 2010 The God of War by Marisa Silver
- 2009 The Soloist by Steve Lopez
- 2008 Distant Land of Our Fathers by Bo Caldwell
- 2007 Cannery Row by John Steinbeck