The Case of the Missing Tall Girls

Shout out to my friend Sarah for inspiring this blog post! As she and I were talking about books we were reading last weekend, we discovered that all the main characters in our recent books were tiny girls. If I list all the books I have read this year, any that had a female protagonist made a show of how that protagonist was petite. Why in the world is this? Where are the tall girls?

I think that authors try to give their characters a flaw or disadvantage to overcome in the books they write. Girls like Tris in Divergent or Clary from Mortal Instruments are more impressive because they are tiny and strong. Tiny girls in romances stand in contrast to their big, burly men. For some reason, tiny girls are supposed to be sweet and timid, and then when they are actually fiery, we are supposed to be surprised. We're not. Your body type doesn't define your personality.

This is, unfortunately, not a new issue. I remember a few years ago when Jennifer Lawrence was cast as Katniss in The Hunger Games and some people said she seemed way to tall or too "big-boned" for the role. Although I personally think Lawrence did an amazing job, here are some direct quotes from the book:
- "small in stature"
-"very slender"
-"strong for her size"
- "not very tall"
(-She also had olive skin and black hair, which were my main complaints, but that's another story.)

Suzanne Collins, as well as almost every other author ever, wrote about a small, white girl who could do big things. And, as Sarah said, how can the rest of ever relate to characters when they never look like us? This is a much, much bigger issue that deals with race representation in books, but I'm not going to go into it because it will just rile me up. I try to keep this blog fairly light-hearted. Back to height. Where was I? So, I'm brainstorming now and I can only think of one book ever (That Summer by Sarah Dessen) that had a tall girl as the protagonist. My Goodreads account recently told me I've read over 500 books, so you'd think more might pop up in my head. They not.

Sure, tiny girls might not be able to reach things or see over crowds. But tall girls aren't living a life of luxury. I'm only 5' 9" (not that tall) and I'll tell you it has disadvantages too. How about the fact that I have to bend over awkwardly for most photos? Or that I have to worry about not buying heels too high and looking like a giant? Or that I can't ever find shirts/pants/skirts that are long enough? Or that for some reason guys feel emasculated if you are even an inch taller than them? And people will always assume you play(ed) basketball or volleyball because of your height. We aren't perfect either. So, dammit, someone write a story about us!