Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms is an LGBTQ+ coming of age romance featuring Annie, an antisocial lesbian and newly elected cheer captain trans girl Bebe. As Annie struggles to enter an already fluctuating team dynamic, Bebe learns how to navigate the spotlight and her own growing feelings for Anne. This story has a HEA and by the end of it, all members of the cheer team gain a stronger understanding of what authentic support means!

Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms is a masterclass in portraying consent, a feature which is worthy of recommendation to teen audiences without even considering the other positive elements. Anne asks if she can kiss Bebe! Bebe fights off Jonah when he repeatedly disrespects her boundaries! The icing on this cupcake of a story is that one of the other teammates comes out as nonbinary by the end, having been felt supported by Bebe, which is something that absolutely happens in LGBTQ+ friend groups. 

From a technical quality standpoint, the font size used in the lettering is large and very legible, compared to some other YA graphic novels I’ve read, which may be especially accommodating to some teen readers.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars! The panel of Annie’s homecoming Queen poster had me cackling.