Today is September 10, 2001, and Will, a grade nine student, is spending the day at his father’s workplace tomorrow. As part of a school assignment, all the students in his class will be going with their parents tomorrow, but Will isn’t excited about it – he’d rather sleep in and do nothing with his friends. His father doesn’t even have an exciting job like his best friend James’s father, who is a fireman. Will’s dad works for an international trading company and has to wake up early every morning to commute to his office on the 85th floor in the south building of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Will doesn’t see his father very often because of the hours he puts in at the office. He doubts that his dad will bother making time for him tomorrow even when they are supposed to be spending the day together.

Dramatic, gripping, and moving, this sequel to the award-winning We All Fall Down will captivate readers. It’s September 12th, 2001, and New York City is at a somber, bleak and shocked in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. Will knows he and his father are lucky to have escaped; others, like his best friend James’ father are still missing . . . and soon presumed to be dead. Poignant and dramatic, United We Stand is a young adult novel about heartache, self-discovery, and the power of friendship.