Debut YA creators Crystal Frasier and Val Wise subvert stereotypical portrayals of high school cheerleaders as cliquish mean girls in Cheer Up!, a charming graphic novel about a close-knit cheer squad of misfits.
Annie is a brilliant yet antisocial student in her senior year of high school. Her "transcript is lopsided. No sports. No clubs. No extracurriculars of any kind." At her (once-a-cheerleader) mother's suggestion, Annie joins the cheerleading squad to make friends and bolster her college applications. This means spending time with her ex-friend and team captain, Bebe, the only out trans girl at school. Bebe is a shy people-pleaser who is being forced by her parents to keep her grades up if she wants them to continue supporting her transition. Annie encourages Bebe to stand up for herself, while Bebe teaches Annie how to be a team player. The two girls rekindle their friendship--and more--as they bond over cheerleading and negotiate queerness in high school.
Wise's expressive art conveys personality through body language while imbuing action sequences with energy and movement. Panels of lingering glances and shy smiles show Annie and Bebe falling for one another as Frasier's text develops a sweet, slow-burn interracial queer romance (Annie is white and a lesbian; Bebe is Latinx and questioning). Frasier maintains a lighthearted tone while depicting the microaggressions Bebe experiences: "If I screw up or freak out, it's because I'm a trans girl," Bebe says, "Never because I'm just not perfect." 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, freelance reviewer