Cheer Up! is my favorite kind of graphic novel - queer, full of lovely representation of different body types, and a sweet story that empowers the reader. Bebe is a trans cheerleader who hates being the center of attention and has trouble sticking up for herself. Anne dislikes most people and has no interest in cheerleading...but of course ends up on the team anyway. From there their relationship turns into one where they teach and help eachother learn more and like more about themselves. I'll be happily recommending this one to everyone I know.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of Cheer Up! Love and Pom Poms.

First I saw cheerleaders on the cover, then I read sapphic, then I read transgender and I couldn’t request and download this graphic novel fast enough.

I’ve just read through this in one sitting and have absolutely adored it from cover to cover. The story, the characters, the artwork- all fantastic.

I loved Bebe’s story, learning about the struggles she had and is still going through despite *some* people being accepting of her gender. It was great to see how her family and friends learnt from Bebe, how she finally got the courage to tell them that she was not an item to be shown off, and seeing how they each had their realisations that how they had been treating Bebe was not right even though it had felt right at the time.

I really enjoyed Annie as well. I love how she is super smart, but just a classic troublemaker, and how her extra curricular activity ends up being the thing that helps her shine and make a great group of friends.

The artwork for this graphic novel was lovely as well. I really enjoyed the colour palettes, the font of the speech really suited the story, and I enjoyed the difference and diversity in the characters!

If you are looking for an lgbtq+ graphic novel with laughs, tears, love, fun and some bad-ass cheerleaders, look no further.

I saw “for fans of Fence and Check, Please!” on the synopsis and as someone who is obsessed with those graphic novels, I just had to read this 😭

A huge thank you to Oni Press and NetGalley for this providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms follows Annie, an angry, lesbian, plus size girl and her ex-friend, shy and trans girl, Beatrice and their high school cheer squad experience and their journey from rekindling their friendship to being something more.

This was the cutest, most wholesome read ever which is a theme in a lot of the queer sports romance stories I’ve read 😍 It’s not a surprise that I absolutely loved this! I loved the relationship between Annie and Bebe as well as with their cheer squad teammates! I also love their relationship with their parents 🥺 Annie’s mom in particular is so cool! We stan a plant lover!

The story all in all packed a lot of character development and plot despite the fast pace and small number of pages but it didn’t feel lacking in anyway. I felt that I got to know the main characters and their story so well in this one volume! The build up to their romance was so cute and when they finally got together, my heart was swooning! Especially during the last scenes, I just wanted to hug them 🥺 The friendships they had with their teammates made me tear up as well especially in those parts when they stood up for each other and supported each other! The girl power was real! The information shared about cheerleading as a sport was such a nice touch!

As for the art style, I’m in love by how bright, colorful and adorable it was! The details were so well thought off and realistic especially in the way they portrayed the diversity and different body types! It perfectly complemented the fluffy, light hearted story!

Despite that, it also tackled a lot of major issues like prejudices that characters went through and dealt with and other serious themes such as transphobia, fat shaming, helicopter parents, harrasment in such a realistic and thought provoking way. I loved that we saw these issues first hand through the main characters and made us more aware of what these people go through because as a cisgender woman myself, I would’ve never understood what they go through.

Overall, this is perfect for fans of stories with sports dynamics, heartfelt friendships and swoony romance with powerful messages!

Loved the diversity, the team and the characters!
The authors solved every situation in the best way possible. I feel like there's nothing else I could've asked for. It breaks with stereotypes beliefs and it has 0 misogyny. It is a book about being yourself, consent and being patient with people that are actually trying to change and deconstruct. I felt so connected with Annie. Deserved 5 stars.
Plus: illustrations are so good and pretty!

[Content warnings: transphobia, outing, sexual harassment]

This was so cute and wholesome!

Annie Ginter has excellent grades and doesn’t care about having no friends, but she needs extracurricular activities for college application. Her mom suggests cheerleading and Annie is not happy. But when Beatrice Diaz (trans) decides to take Annie in on the team, the pair start spending more time together. Beatrice helps Annie make friends on the team and Annie speaks up when people mistreats Beatrice. They grow together, and so does everyone else around them.

First of all, a romance between a grumpy lesbian and a sweet transgirl? Yes! And the fact that Annie remains fat while being a flyer and after gruesome workouts also makes me very happy. As for the art, the facial expressions of the characters are very expressive. I love Annie’s grumpy and exhausted faces and BeBe’s surprised and happy ones. On top of that, I also love that each cheerleader on the Flying Cranes team have the different body types, height, and styles. Oh, and Annie’s mom is a tattooed plant mom! How wonderful is that?

The story addresses a lot of problematic “trans allyship” that BeBe is afraid to speak up about. Even though the cheerleading team seems supportive, their teammates sees her more like a diversity checkbox than being true allies. BeBe’s parents also consider her transition as a luxury instead of a necessity and their protectiveness of BeBe is very misguided. The main plot isn’t just about Annie and BeBe’s relationship growth, but also about how their friends and family begin to understand what it is to be supportive of their loved ones and reflecting on their own harmful behaviors.

Throughout the read, I wonder why Annie and BeBe stopped being friends two years ago. Did it have anything to do with her coming out? It was never discussed and yet I feel like it is such an important part of their relationship. I also couldn’t grasp why the creepster dude was so popular. But despite these parts, CHEER UP! is overall a wonderful and wholesome story.

If you want a cute graphic novel about a transgirl in sports and some sweet romance, CHEER UP! is going to make you very happy upon finishing.

Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for a copy in exchange for a honest review.

Rating: 3.5

Synopsis:

BeBe is a trans girl who feels that she must excel at everything to prove her worth. Annie is the opposite; she is laid back and honestly does not care what you think of her. Both girls use to be friends. Until they were not. However, when Annie is faced with the reality that she must join a school organization in order to round out her college applications, she finds that she must join her least favorite sports team : cheer squad. The only good thing about this? BeBe is on the squad. Annie and BeBe reconnect instantly. They find that their friendship may be more than just friends. As the girls get closer, they endure more struggles in their everyday life. Particularly BeBe, as she works towards pleasing herself more than pleasing others all while facing blatant transphobia.

Thoughts:
There were many aspects of this story that I enjoyed. I loved BeBe and Annie's characters. The struggles BeBe endures throughout the novel are honest and real. I really enjoyed seeing BeBe grow as a character throughout the story. I also adore the art style.

The one aspect that felt off to me was the pacing. The romance felt very rushed. There was also little detail on cheerleading. How did Annie become a great cheerleader? What is the team dynamic like? When did they all start to get along? These were just a few of the questions I had while reading the novel.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel.

Woah, there’s lots of representation in this short but super sweet graphic novel!
One main character is a biracial trans girl and the other is a plus sized, assertive, lesbian. This is fast paced and covers being queer, supporting people when they come out and standing up for yourself. I’d enjoy reading more in this series.

I received a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

4/5

Wholesome? Check.
Diverse? Check.
Funny? Check
Honestly I don’t know where I’m going with this. I did enjoy this book. It was wholesome and it was nice to see some representation.

The art is beautiful and the plotting is great. The paneling and dialogue is really easy to follow and well done. I really liked the parts of dialogue that built character personality rather than moving the plot forward. I love me some world building.

I hope there’s a sequel because there were a lot of loose ends and unfinished plot points that I thought were important.

I think any high school library would be lucky to have this book. Or really any school.

This was adorable! It was a wonderful story that explores certain facets of being a girl and adresses a lot of important issues, but in a way that ended up being so wholesome? The dialogue accompanied byt the art style delivered everything perfectly. So so so cute. It will leave you wanting more from these characters.

Rep: plus size mc, lesbian mc, sapphic love interest, trans love interest, nonbinary side character
TW: transphobia, sexual harassment

Thank you to Netgalley and Oni Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is adorable! I first picked up this book because I heard it had great representation, and it surely did. I don’t read graphic novels that much, but this book reminded me that I should, because they’re very satisfying and fluffy.

That being said, the graphic novel, while being full of adorable sapphic moments, also tackles some heavy issues like transphobia, especially transphobic micro aggressions. We see the love interest, Bebe, have to deal with transphobia and being fetishized frequently.

This book follows Annie, a lesbian who has to deal with the stress of being a senior in high school and having to worry about college and beyond and joining the cheerleading squad in order to have more extracurriculars on her transcript. The other main character, Bebe, who is on the cheerleading squad, has to fear transphobia and sexual harassment in everyday situations.

When the two become friends for the first time in years, they wonder if they could be more....

Overall, this is a cute graphic novel that can be read in an quick afternoon. I would recommend this book for fans of Heartstopper Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman, or anyone that is looking for a quick book to read.

This graphic novel was so cute! The plot was simple and the art was lovely and the friendships that were outlined were meaningful and sweet. It was great seeing something like a cheer squad that is stereotypically a ‘popular girl’ activity that was filled with diversity of all kinds. All in all, a short read that was totally worthwhile!

Thanks to netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for review.

This was such a beautiful, yet powerful story. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The characters are wonderful, the illustrations beautiful and the representation is amazing.

Bebe and Annie are so adorable! I loved the characters development, and I liked how the team protected each other and learned from one another.

I recommend this book to everyone who likes graphic novels with great representation.

Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for my eARC.

Cheer Up was a quick and impactful read about trans joy, struggles, and rekindling a childhood friendship!
CW: transphobia, microgressions

I am contemplating my rating for this. I'm torn between 4 and a 5 star because it was very quick. However, the messages of transness with Bebe's character were awesome. The author does a great job to show how Bebe's transition affects her emotionally and mentally. As a trans person, I resonated with a lot of her feelings of her transition affecting her whole family and not just her. Also, her parents are very overprotective of her and the blatant transphobia she experiences but explains how exhausting it is to always respond or react to it. This was excellent and I loved the sapphic romance, I just wanted more tbh! I wish it was longer. I love seeing any story that focuses on queer, trans, and/or non-binary people in sports and falling in love.

Cheer Up wound up being much better than expected. I admit my expectations were low, but this graphic novel was so heartwarming. I incorrectly assumed it would be about catty cheerleaders, but it's a nice lesson in loving yourself and accepting others.

The graphic novel includes LGBTQ+ themes, and I loved the inclusivity! The character growth of both Annie and Bebe was very well done.

This was so cute. It follows Bebe, a trans girl and the captain of her school’s cheer team, in her journey alongside her old former friend Annie. The two are so different but end up reconnecting during their time on the cheer team. The sisterhood and LGBTQ+ positivity in this graphic novel was so lovely, this is a true heartwarming book that will bring a smile to your face. I loved that it didn’t focus on Bebe or her transition but more on her already being out and where she goes from there. There are great sub-story lines that all tie up in a beautiful bow by the end.

This is my first graphic novel, and I loved it so much! It touched my heart and just made me feel so soft. The art style is whimsical, and the characters are so lovable I want to protect them at all costs.

I just adored BeeBee (17, biracial, trans)! She’s an absolute ray of soft sunshine and I wish I’d had a friend like her in high school! She’s quiet and earnest and thoughtful and just an all-around delight. This story shows a wide range of BeeBee’s experiences as a transgender high schooler. It shows how people can be well-meaning in their attempts at allyship but end up doing more harm than good to the person they’re trying to support.

Annie (17, lesbian) is so hilarious: callous and antisocial but with a good heart underneath all the bravado. The illustrations of her ridiculous antics made me laugh so much! She initially recoils when her mom suggests that she join the cheerleading team, but her preconception of cheerleaders ends up getting challenged.

I loved the friendship-turned-relationship between BeeBee and Annie: how they support each other, how they draw strength from each other, and how they’re so soft from each other. I also loved the diversity we see in the side characters, especially the other cheerleaders: not every member is feminine/has long hair, not every member is thin, and there’s also a nonbinary member of the team.

Overall, this is a sweet, feel-good story that’s sure to brighten your day!

YES!!!! I didn't read the description before grabbing this because the art looked cute and I'm so glad I didn't because I was SO PLEASED with this story! It's definitely a feel-good narrative with some emotional turbulence but overall is perfect for when you need a reminder that things can work out. Highly recommend and will be requesting a copy for the library!

I really enjoyed reading it!! There was so much representation of diverse characters in the book, I really liked it!! Even the art style was pretty. The graphic novel was a bit dense but I still enjoyed the story on whole

read this one in one sitting this morning even before I had finished drinking my coffee. annie is such a sweetheart and godd that prom dress!😩♥️ i love the way her character grew alongside bebe, especially after the scene when bebe calls out annie for doing the exact same thing like everyone else, which makes her feel uncomfortable. and annie understands!!! annie is the kind of love and support we need to extend to people who society labels as different which chokes them as they attempt so hard to fit in. bebe is blamed for screw-ups because she's a trans-girl and not because she's also human and imperfect. she feels like it's better to go through the struggles of being a trans instead of trying to dress up as a boy. and annie gives her all the love and respect when she points out how she's doing this really difficult thing at their age which shows that she really knows what she wants. these are some of the moments in the book which really touched my heart. thanks to netgalley for my e-copy.

Many thanks to Oni Press, Crystal Frasier, and Netgalley for my DRC of Cheer Up in exchange for an impartial review.

Cheer Up tells the story of Bebe, a girl who recently made the transition from being a boy. In many ways, Cheer Up deals with different forms of transphobia, and is also a celebration of trans identity.

We see Bebe deal with blatant transphobia from strangers and people in her school; and we also see her deal with subtle transphobia from people who don't even know their actions are transphobic.

This is a story of growth and self acceptance, and I love the character development in this graphic novel. It was pretty short and some things felt rushed but it was still very well done.

I absolutely enjoyed the friendship and romance between Bebe and Annie, and the questions that came up about sexuality.

The illustrations in this graphic novel were simply divine and I wholeheartedly love them.

I enjoyed this and definitely recommend it.