Review Detail

“Stand Up!” by Tori Sharp is a graphic novel about two best friends, Clay and Kyle, who start their own podcast. They both want to try something new and find something they’re good at, and this middle grade novel does a nice job of giving these characters just that.

While the two friends enjoy fun banter and goofing off, not everyone finds their jokes amusing all the time. The play director thinks Clay is spending too much time joking around when the play needs to be taken seriously. She has one of the main roles in the play, and telling jokes just isn’t conducive to making strides in getting the show ready for opening night. It doesn’t help matters for Clay that her crush, Dania, is also in the show, and she wants to make things light and easy because she gets so nervous when she’s around Dania.

When the friends come up with the idea to do a podcast, it takes off, and they find that they have a larger audience than they could have imagined. Sharing advice about school for students and teachers alike resonates with so many people, and they find themselves with lots of questions and people who even want to pay for ads on their show.

The story follows themes of friendship, self-discovery, crushes, and truth, whether about who each person is as an individual or how to face the truth about what’s right in front of you.