Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms

Product Description

Readers will root for these girls as they navigate the waters of self-confidence, love, and cheerleading.” — Booklist (starred review)

A sweet, queer teen romance perfect for fans of 
Heartstopper and 
Check, Please!

Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who’s under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend Bebe is a people-pleaser—a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures (not to mention micro aggressions and other queer youth problems), the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they’d lost and discover there may be other, sweeter feelings springing up between them. 

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Cheerleading meets girl-girl romance in this sporty rom-com. Annie is “the best student this school has ever seen,” but her guidance counselor worries that her lack of extracurriculars will hurt her college chances. Her mom, a tattooed former cheerleader, suggests that Annie join the cheerleading team. The squad doesn’t want her at first-antisocial Annie’s reputation precedes her-but head cheerleader Bebe, Annie’s former friend, changes their minds. Bebe, who struggles balancing grades, popularity, and being the first trans girl at their high school, finds Annie a welcome change to her routine. As the girls rekindle their friendship, they also start to feel something more. But will Bebe’s overprotective parents, who worry about their daughter getting hurt, be OK with it? “Wholesome princess” Bebe and devil-may-care Annie form a classic romantic pairing. Frasier’s dialogue and Wise’s full-color art create some dynamic scenes, and the quiet, wordless sequences that show the two gradually falling for each other take the story into swoon-worthy territory. As several well-intentioned characters learn to stop treating Bebe like a mascot, the story also demonstrates good allyship amid microaggressions. Annie is white, Bebe is tan-skinned, and the ensemble cast is diverse in skin tone. VERDICT In the vein of Ngozi Ukazu’s Check, Please! or C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad’s Fence, this peppy yet angsty graphic novel irresistibly reclaims sports for queer and trans audiences. Recommended for all teen collections.-Alec Chunn, Eugene P.L., ORα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

THE NEW YORK TIMES, “8 Comic Books in Honor of Pride”

BUZZFEED, “28 New LGBTQ+ Young Adult Novels That’ll Add Sunshine To Your Summer”

BOOK RIOT, “20 Must-Read LGBTQ Comics for Teens and Young Adults” 

EPIC READS, “The 16 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in August”

LAMBDA LITERARY, “August’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Literature”

THE SEATTLE TIMES, “A Seattle-authored graphic novel and long-listen audiobooks”

OUT MAGAZINE, 18 New & Upcoming Queer Comics We Love

“Sweet without being saccharine, this short work is a wise, funny look at the distance between queer rights and real acceptance.” ―
Publishers Weekly

“Showing that everyone has more to learn, and that embracing others is often the best way to do it, 
Cheer Up is a wonderful graphic novel.” ―
Foreword Reviews

“Readers will root for these girls as they navigate the waters of self-confidence, love, and cheerleading.” — Sarah Rice ―
Booklist [Starred Review]

“In the vein of Ngozi Ukazu’s 
Check, Please! or C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad’s 
Fence, this peppy yet angsty graphic novel irresistibly reclaims sports for queer and trans audiences. Recommended for all teen collections.” ―
School Library Journal

”
Cheer Up! is joyful and insistent in its portrayal of queer teens like Annie and Bebe as worthy of love and respect, imperfections and all.” — Alanna Felton ―
Shelf Awareness [Starred Review]

“Wholesome and heartwarming.