Hey YA Fans!
We’re in a Moment for cheerleading. Between the adaptation of Megan Abbott’s fantastic Dare Me on USA and the engrossing Netflix docu-series Cheer, this incredible sport is being widely spotlighted in pop culture. Cheerleading is intense, competitive, and requires incredible strength and flexibility. Of course, like dance or gymnastics, it’s a perfect breeding ground for drama. It’s steeped in tradition and pride, with plenty of opportunities for stories and relationships to bloom and burst (fun fact about me: I used to work for a cheerleading-related organization).
Both Cheer and Dare Me are excellent for YA readers, as they put young people and their drive front and center. If you’re looking for more because you’ve marathoned both and/or you prefer your cheerleading in print only, here are a few great YA books about cheerleading.
Since I haven’t read these yet — let me tell you about my TBR after seeing Cheer — I’m using Amazon descriptions. These books feature cheerleading in some capacity, though it’s surprising to see how few of them focus heavily on it. Hopefully, we’ll see more soon, given that it has all of the action and hype that any sport does.
Note that this is a far whiter list than it should be. Why is that? Cheerleading is incredibly diverse, and YA should be showcasing that reality far more than it is. I’ve tried to include a wide array of titles, so note this newsletter is a bit longer than normal for that reason.
Shane is bored with school, then she meets the hot new volleyball coach. Suddenly, things are looking up. Brandi becomes co-captain of the varsity cheer squad. Dating a famous rapper is not bad either. And Marisa is the featured twirler during halftime. But after a big win, her squad parties a little too hard.
Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she’s still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel’s new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past.
When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she’s able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction.
There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.
First there was the car accident–two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they’d lost.
That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget.
Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.
There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.
Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn’t mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don’t cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a small town. The team’s summer training camp is Hermione’s last and marks the beginning of the end of…she’s not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black.
In every class, there’s a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They’re never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she’s always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The rape wasn’t the beginning of Hermione Winter’s story and she’s not going to let it be the end. She won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale.
Flying by Carrie Jones (series)
People have always treated seventeen-year-old Mana as someone in need of protection. She’s used to being coddled, being an only child, but it’s hard to imagine anything could ever happen in her small-town, normal life. As her mother’s babying gets more stifling than ever, she’s looking forward to cheering at the big game and getting out of the house for a while.
But that night, Mana’s life goes haywire.
First, the hot guy she’s been crushing on at school randomly flips out and starts spitting acid during the game. Then they get into a knockdown, drag-out fight in the locker room, during which Mana finds herself leaping around like a kangaroo on steroids. As a flyer on the cheerleading squad, she’s always been a good jumper, but this is a bit much. By the time she gets home and finds her house trashed and an alien in the garage, Mana starts to wonder if her mother had her reasons for being overprotective.
It turns out, Mana’s frumpy, timid mom is actually an alien hunter, and now she’s missing–taking a piece of technology with her that everyone wants their hands on, both human and alien. Now her supposed partner, a guy that Mana has never met or heard of (and who seems way too young and way too arrogant to be hunting aliens), has shown up, ordering Mana to come with him. Now, on her own for the first time, Mana will have to find a way to save her mother–and maybe the world–and hope she’s up to the challenge.
When self-proclaimed geek girl Bethany Reynolds becomes the newest member of the varsity cheerleading squad, she realizes that there’s one thing worse than blending into the lockers: getting noticed. Who knew cheerleading was so hard? Well, at least there’s a manual, The Prairie Stone High Varsity Cheerleading Guide. Too bad it doesn’t cover any of the really tough questions. Like:
- How do you maintain some semblance of dignity while wearing an insanely short skirt?
- What do you do when the head cheerleader spills her beer on you at your first in-crowd party?
- And how do you protect your best friend from the biggest player in the senior class?
Bethany is going to need all her geek brainpower just to survive the season!
“Lockwood Lions” series, starting with Always Upbeat / All That by Stephanie Perry Moore
This isn’t the official description, but this is series for more reluctant readers that’s action heavy. It’s a dual book, so one half of the book is from the perspective of one character — in this case a cheerleader — and the other is told from the perspective of a football player.
This year, Essie Green’s life is going to be different. She’s made the cheerleading squad and caught the eye of the captain of the football team. However, she didn’t expect her estranged cousin to join the football team. Micah is instantly branded a freak for praying during games, and Essie doesn’t want anything to do with him. As the football team’s teasing of Micah shifts into hazing, Essie is forced to make a choice between the boy she might love and the cousin she barely knows.
Queerleaders by M. B. Guel (March 17)
“Mack snuck a look at the cheerleaders just as Veronica took her place at the top of the pyramid. Time seemed to slow down as the cheerleader swung her long blond ponytail over her shoulder, pompoms high in the air…”
Mackenzie is used to being different from other kids―and to being bullied for not fitting into the rigid social expectations of her Catholic High School. Luckily, Mack’s best friend Lila has her back so school isn’t the total hell it could be. But it’s pretty damn close.
Until something very mysterious happens―Mack becomes a cheerleader magnet. Even she has a hard time believing it. And Lila is not too happy about her friend’s sudden popularity with the cool kids.
Is Mack being set up for an epic fail? Or is she finally headed for acceptance–and maybe even romance…
“The Squad” series starting with Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Bayport High’s Varsity cheer squad is made up of the hottest of the hot. But this A-list is dangerous in more ways than one. The Squad is actually a cover for the most highly trained group of underage government operatives the United States has ever assembled. They have the perfect cover, because, beyond herkeys and highlights, no one expects anything from a cheerleader.
Squad by Mariah MacCarthy
Jenna Watson is a cheerleader. And she wants you to know it’s not some Hollywood crap: they are not every guy’s fantasy. They are not the “mean girls” of Marsen High School. They’re literally just human females trying to live their lives and do a perfect toe touch. And their team is at the top of their game. They’re a family.
But all that changes when Jenna’s best friend stops talking to her. Suddenly, she’s not getting invited out with the rest of the squad. She’s always a step behind. And she has no idea why.
While grappling with post-cheer life, Jenna explores things she never allowed herself to like, including LARPing (live action role playing) and a relationship with a trans guy that feels a lot like love.
When Jenna loses the sport and the friends she’s always loved, she has to ask herself: What else is left?
Narrated by Cassie, a shy outsider who fears that an epic high school rivalry is about to go up in flames, the story follows the Trojans and Spartans as they declare war on the football field. After the beautiful Elena—who used to be the captain of the Spartan cheerleaders—transfers to Troy High and falls madly in love with Cassie’s brother Perry, the Spartans vow that the annual homecoming game will never be forgotten.
The Trojans and Spartans pull wicked pranks on each other as homecoming approaches. And the Spartans’ wildcard football star, Ackley, promises to take down the Trojans’ offensive line. But the stakes are raised when Cassie is forced to choose between the boy she loves (a Spartan) and loyalty to her family and school. Troy High will seduce readers with its incendiary cast of mythic proportions.
Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you again later this week!
— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram and editor of (Don’t) Call Me Crazy and Here We Are.
**Psst — you can now also preorder my upcoming August release, Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy!
Emily A. Duncan’s Wicked Saints, the first in a series, is $3. For fans of things dark and fantastical.
Tanaz Bhathena’s A Girl Like That, which I dug and think has a really neat setting we don’t see enough in YA, is $3.
A young prodigy doing her rounds as an MD falls in love with a fellow teen, but he’s a patient. That’s the plot of Sona Chariapotra’s Symptoms of a Heartbreak. $3.
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I get asked a lot why thrillers are so popular, and my answer is always the same: in a world where life can be scary, confusing, and alarmingly random, there’s something cathartic and almost comforting about dark, twisted, and suspenseful storytelling. Current pop culture reflects this, from binge-worthy shows like 
The success of the YA thriller genre isn’t new. Some of its most prolific authors—including Sara Shepard, Lauren Oliver, and Barry Lyga—have been publishing heart-pounding mysteries for over a decade. But in recent years, the category has expanded to cover more types of stories and include an ever-growing cadre of diverse and dynamic authors. When people ask me for recommendations, I tend to shove an entire stack of books at them, with titles from both new and established authors like Kara Thomas, Tiffany D. Jackson, Caleb Roehrig, Mindy McGinnis, Arvin Ahmadi, Malinda Lo, Lamar Giles, Kit Frick, Derek Milman, Rory Power, Courtney Summers, and so many more.
