Stand Tall

Joan Bauer is another one of my favorite authors. Whenever she writes, she makes you want to BE the main character. This book was a little bit weaker, maybe because it was written about a 12-year-old boy instead of a teenage girl, but whatever, still a good book.
It was about Tree, a boy who's over six feet and in the seventh grade (and, for the record, has never been held back). He's having a lot of trouble fitting in... At home, where his dad's struggling with a messy divorce and their mother just seems more and more anxious to cut herself off, at school, where Tree is forced into a basketball team with a coach that doesn't want anything to do with him, and pretty much everywherew else too.
Luckily, his grandpa, a Vietnam veteran, helps Tree feel wanted. Having just lost a leg, he needs all of Tree's help to relearn everything, from walking to sitting down. And Sophie, the new girl at school, also needs Tree as a friend, because she's not fitting in so well herself.
With these quirky, meaningful characters, Tree discovers everyone and everything has a purpose, even himself.
This isn't my favorite book, but it has a good message and it's pretty short so it's worth reading really quick. I usually don't like it when a preteen boy is the main character unless the author is really witty and takes the character places. I don't think Joan Bauer really stepped up to the plate, so to speak, but her other books are really good.