Tommy Stands Alone

Roosevelt High School #3

by Gloria Velásquez

The third novel in the Roosevelt High School Series focuses on the difficult issue of a young man's struggle with his sexual orientation -- a conflict made more difficult by his family's traditional Hispanic expectations.

Genres: Fiction, Teen

135 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Kristian]

this book is about a boy named tommy. he is a jock and and a good guy. all the ladies went for him. he never had any problems. until he sleeps with his friends sister and knocks her up, he does not know what to do so he runs off to chicago. when he decides to come back to his home no one wants to see him or talk because Sheila already had her baby and found a new dad so now he messed up he left his girl with his baby alone for 2 years and he comes back expecting he can just love her again. Sheila does not think so, she ignored him until he treated to kill her new boyfriend. but her new boyfriend was huge new boyfriend found tommy and beat him up. that was the ending of this wonderful story.
i can connect this book to the world because alot of people because now a days girls are getting pregnant at 15 15 and the fathers of the baby either run away or kills himself.
i give this book 3 stars because it was very interesting but some parts of the book made it seem as if i was reading a book in kindergarden.

[Cathleen Ash]

It's hard to live up to a latino's family image of you - especially when it's wrong. Tommy knows all about this. His best friend knows he's gay, Tommy knows he's gay, but still, it's hard to admit that to anyone else in a community where being gay is hated, feared, against not only your family but God - the God your family has worshipped and prayed to forever.
A young boy at school is teased, and Tommy, while he doesn't start any of the teasing, doesn't stop it either. There comes a point, though, where enough is enough.
Tommy finds out where that point is - and must face the consequences. Tommy stands alone, but we get to see, through the eyes of the author, how everyone else in this story stands around him. We see the viewpoint of everyone involved in Tommy's life - the life of a teen and its influence on and impact by the family, the counselors, the students, the friends, enemies and generations of tradition.