Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows Bebe, a trans girl and Annie, an antisocial lesbian in their senior year of high school. Though this graphic novel was short, it packed in so much amazing representation and it never once felt rushed or busy. The discussion of Bebe transitioning and her growth in defending herself to her family, friends and students, was amazing to see and it was so incredibly heartfelt.

The illustrations were also stunning and I found myself constantly scrolling back to past scenes just to take in how gorgeous they were. Every single character was beautiful and following these young women build friendships, relationships and being proud of themselves, was everything I hoped this book would be and more.

I was so pleasantly surprised with the amount of representation within this graphic novel, and the challenging of traditional stereotypes in the form of a cheer squad. It warms my heart to know that many younger readers may see themselves represented within this book.

Overall, this book was an incredibly heartwarming, important graphic novel that I really do recommend everybody reads!

Title: Cheer Up: Love and Pom Poms
Author: Crystal Frasier
Illustrator: Val Wise
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 128
Publication Date: 4/1/2021

Cheer Up: Love and Pom Poms is a delightful graphic novel that focuses on two non-traditional high school cheerleaders. Annie is an incredibly smart but antisocial lesbian who is pressured to join to help round out her college applications. BeeBee is a trans girl who becomes the cheer captain and is facing pressure from her family to keep her grades up to continue their support of her transition. Annie and BeeBee used to be friends and rekindle their friendship while cheerleading.

This is a coming-of-age story for both Annie and BeeBee. What I really like is that the graphic novel does not focus on what makes these characters different (BeeBee as a trans girl, Annie as an antisocial, bigger bodied girl), but rather how they navigate the growing and learning process. The discussion of some of the microaggressions that BeeBee endures as a trans girl are powerful to read. We watch as Annie learns about kindness and BeeBee begins to stand up for herself and find her voice.

The art style is adorable and colorful and really captures the spirit and voice of this book. There is a lot of visual variety with some pages have multiple panels and some pages only having one. I loved how the color palates varied slightly throughout the book to help convey a different location. My favorite was at the dance at the end of the book.

The only thing I did not like is BeeBee's family. They appeared to support her transition if she kept her grades up. That's incredibly messed up but probably a reality for some teenagers. We do see BeeBee stand up to her father for being too protective - but this issue is not addressed. I wish there had been more exploration/resolution of this harmful behavior.

I would highly recommend this graphic novel. I often hear about people who want to try out graphic novels – this is a perfect one to try out! It is short and has a story we can all relate to. Go and reserve your copy now – releases on July 21, 2021.

ARC provided to me by Oni Press, via Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.

#CheerUp #NetGalley

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms follows Annie, a young woman who is trying to build up her college applications by adding an extracurricular activity, and Bebe, a young trans woman who is Annie’s old friend and squad member on the cheer team. As readers we get to see Annie and Bebe rekindle their friendship and help each other better themselves along the way!


This story was SO CUTE but also very important. With one of our main characters being trans there is lots of talk on how and when to stand up for trans people. There was a particular scene where Bebe says that she won’t always speak out or start a fight if someone is at least trying, even if they may still be hurting her. What I felt was important about this scene is that it addresses the need for those to support trans people but also to always continue to improve on how you may help them or address them. I feel that this book also brings about the topic to treat trans people as who they are! So often people over emphasize the fact that someone is trans and that person may not be comfortable with that. With that being said the depiction of friendship and the importance of communication with your friends was great to see because as a society we don’t always get to see that. Books will often depict trans people as being bullied and praising people doing the bare minimum and I liked that this book went above and beyond that.

Overall I think everyone needs to read this book because there are real conversations that take place that you may not get to experience in real life and it can help everyone out. While I may be making this book sound super heavy, it is still super cute and fluffy and was such a joy to read and I hope that everyone gets a chance to pick it up!

Awww, this is such a cute graphic novel about two cheerleaders falling in love! Adorable. The artwork was bright and cheerful, the parents were sweet and caring, the representation was wonderfully done, I must say. Definitely worth a go for anyone looking for a cheerful tale of love and pompoms! <3

This graphic novel is a fantastic read. It has various examples of sexual orientation, gender, and body types, and confronts typical high school stereotypes in a fashion I haven't yet seen in teen media. Character personalities are extremely diverse, and are flawed while still demonstrating love and acceptance.

I found this story sweet and enjoyable to read, and will definitely buy it for my library, as well as my own personal collection.

This was such a cute graphic novel! It follows BeBe, an openly trans girl, and Annie, who is a lesbian, and I loved both characters. Bebe is a people pleaser whereas Annie doesn't really care about how other people see her, and I really liked the development of both of them throughout the book. As well as being a cute romance, the book also addressed important issues, and particularly educated me on being a good ally to people and actually listening to what they want you to do, rather than just assuming how to help them. The artwork is also really pretty!

This was a cute, if quick, graphic novel, that I ended up really enjoying.

'Cheer Up' follows Annie, an angry, antisocial lesbian, and her ex-friend Bebe, a trans girl, their experiences with cheer practice, and the friendship-and-something-more that grows between them.

I really liked the way that Bebe's struggles were portrayed, because they were real and meaningful, especially with her struggle of being a 'spokesperson' for the trans community, and the microaggressions she faced as a result - what she wanted vs what everyone wanted for her.

The art was nice, and the storyline was quite cute, and there was a lot of diversity - not as something that was explicitly inserted into the story, but as something that was included because it's reality. While I did like the romance, I felt that it was rushed, and I would have loved to see the relationship blossom further between the girls, because it seemed a little like insta-love at times.

Overall, this graphic novel was really adorable, and I would definitely recommend it for everyone.

This comic is about cheerleading, but even more about friendship, support, girlhood, standing up for yourself and Love.
And it's interesting that for a comic about cheerleading and love, it is really cute, but not as fluffy as I would have expected.

The queer representation is great, the art style is cute ( I especially appreciate that most of the cheerleaders are drawn with regular and bigger body sizes) and the story made me rethink some things about being an Ally even as a queer person to other members of the lgbt+ community.

I really enjoyed it and will definitely want to read the later volumes, if there is more to come.

A quick, sweet and easy read with wonderful characters and great portrayal - done and written in an absolutely amazing and beautiful way. I hope there will be a second part because I fell in love with the characters and I would be sad if I to part with them already.

I received a free ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was so cute! Despite being such a short story, I found myself getting thoroughly invested and rooting for the characters. It was lovely to see a sapphic romance with one of the women being trans, we don't see that representation enough! Despite being such a fun story, a lot of more serious topics were tackled and some of the struggles that transgender women face were highlighted. Additionally, the art was beautiful! Such a great story, I'd recommend to anyone!

This was a really wonderful story for so many different reasons. This graphic novel had team building, rekindling of a friendship, discussions of transphobia and overstepping boundaries. I especially liked that Bebe was able to stand up to Jonah on her own knowing that she had the support of her friends. I was really glad that we got to see Annie learn how to be a team player rather than succeeding on her own. The ending wrapped up the story nicely. I will definitely be recommending this to friends!

Thank you Netgalley and Oni Press for providing an e-ARC!

This is such a wholesome queer romance! A colourful story with a diverse cast and adorable illustrations. I loved all the different characters building this wonderful story about uniqueness and being yourself. I hope we are going to get more of Annie and Bebe!

I always wanted to be a cheerleader. But, as a gawky 6 foot tall nerdy chick, I just never had the confidence to project myself in that way.

My awkward high school self would have gotten a kick out of CHEER UP, an adorably quirky and fun story of two girls learning to embody their true identities on a high school cheerleading squad where neither would typically probably fit in - at least, according to normal perceptions.

One is a quiet, transgendered girl who can't quite figure out how to stand up for herself. The other is an outspoken lesbian who is most notably for her acerbic personality (and that fact that she literally bit a classmate).

On the cheerleading squad, these girls find acceptance -- and themselves -- and even manage to find love.

Adorable, cute, sweet, and heart warming, CHEER UP is an empowering and heart-warming graphic novel about loving yourself and standing up for your right to just be you.

And, it doesn't hurt that there's a little romance, right?

This is Gay and it SLAPS!

It's got some hella great representation. Women Supporting Women. Queer People supporting other queer people. A diverse group of ladies and gentlethems that make up the Cheer Team as a whole.

The character growth in this book is fantastic and honestly I think this is one of my favorite "glow-up"/Make-over scenes ever.

My only complaint is that apparently someone let these girls all wear different colored shoes to go cheer in. No way that would ever happen.

Thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for providing me with ARC of this comic book!

TW: transfobia, harassment
Rep: lesbian plus size MC, transgender MC

This is story about two girls starting their senior year. Annie is a lesbian who was forced to join cheerleaders, and Bebe is a trans girl who recently came out and has to deal with many things.
This is such an adorable and heartwarming story! It made my heart swell with joy and cuteness! Cheerleading is giving so much atmosphere to this story.And also it gave me a little "Heartstopper" vibe. So if you like Heartstopper, you definitely need to check Cheer Up! out

The message from Cheer Up! is so good and powerful. No matter how cute and sweet it is, it deals with many important and tough topics. But they are handle with such an accuracy and care.

The artwork is absolutely gorgeous! I liked every detail that I saw.
I feel like it could be a little big longer (in terms of the love line), but overall I loved Cheer Up!

This was adorable!! I got it as a Read Now from Netgalley as I was in the mood for a comic and I’m so happy I read this. It is so so good. The representation in this book was great, there is a trans main character who is a cheerleader and the other main character was amazing, she’s an angry girl and I adored the relationship between these two. I liked the school setting and the f/f relationship was just adorable. I enjoyed the characters. I just enjoyed this, it made me smile. I also really liked the art work and it made me love the story more.

Well that was super cute and too short. I want more. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this graphic novel but I definitely enjoyed it. As someone who has always felt like an outsider to cliques, Cheer Up was relatable. I loved the diversity, especially of different body types. And I absolutely loved the characters doing stuff outside the status quo. Like Annie, I've always found enjoyment (and pettiness of proving them wrong) in doing things people would say they didn't think I would do. Or that 'I didn't look like that type of person'. *eye roll emoji* Y'all better hype the sapphic like y'all did Heartstopper and Check, Please.

4.5/ 5

Ugh! This graphic novel was too cute!

It’s a sapphic high school love story between Annie, an antisocial lesbian who was pressured into joining the cheer team, and BeBe, a trans girl on the team who is trying to keep her parents support of her transition by maintaining both her grades and her social life.

The artwork was great and the story was so sweet. I just wish it was a bit longer!

I was provided an eARC of the graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book! I liked how it showed how complicated it can be to be trans, how you have to decide when and how you pick your fights sometimes, but also that Bebe had support from her friends around her and that they learned to stand up for her when she actually needed them to. I also loved how both main characters grew as people, Bebe learning to stand up for herself too and Annie learning to be a bit more soft. The romance was so cute and the art style was really nice as well. I do think that the book felt a bit short and a few things were rushed but in the end it was a really good story.

Sapphic cheerleaders? And one of them is trans? I couldn't download this fast enough.

And I really enjoyed this! It's fast-paced and funny, and I loved the art work. It really pulled me in and I laughed and cried reading this. It has the grumpy x sunshine dynamic, and it works SO well! These girls used to be friends before, but they grew apart, and now that they're both on the cheerleading team, they're reconnecting and falling in love. I absolutely adored the romance, and I loved the discussions on being trans and how hypervisible Bebe feels as a trans girl when she just wants to be herself, not be the center of attention.