Stand Tall by Joan Bauer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More and more kids are growing up in divorced households. In previous generations, narratives tended to cast one or the other of the parents as some sort of evil selfish person at worst or at best as simply absent and leaving behind a void in their kids lives. In truth, for most families there is no villain which makes it all much harder for the kids and so much sadder. Without hate and anger, loss is harder to deal with and so much more raw. That’s what Tree, protagonist of Stand Tall, is dealing with.

Tree is six foot three at the age of 12. He visually just doesn’t fit in. (Excellent metaphor for adolescence by the way) He’s a good kid though. He helps his Vietnam vet grandfather with his post amputation physical therapy. He helps the new girl, Sophie, find a place in their school. He just helps people and while doing so finds a place for himself.

I think this is a good book in general, but especially for what it does exploring issues surrounding adjusting to a broken home.


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