What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader by Adrianne Ambrose

Hello, hello!

*echo ))))))))))))))) echo )))))))))))))))) echo*

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Anywho...welcome back fellow insatiable readers!  You've chosen a great place to be one too since this is Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.  Hopefully you come here hungry for some bookish fun and leave here satisfied and ready to seize the reading day!  Or at the very least are satisfied before you leave in search of your next reading feast....either way, works for me.

Middle Grade, Children's, Kid's, Young Adult....so many wonderful categories to explore in the younger end of the reading spectrum but they all hold surprise treasures for readers of all ages just waiting to be discovered.  Why stop at one genre, when you can read them all!  Let's take a look at one of these little gems now, shall we?  *waits for nod.....there it is!*  Today's book of choice is....

What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader

by

Adrianne Ambrose

This is a wonderfully cute look at Middle School and the ever chased after desire (then and in adulthood to an extent) to obtain one thing....POPULARITY. I can hear the song from Wicked playing now in the back of my mind...popular...you're gonna be POP-U-LAR....thanks Kristen Chenoweth for the lovely rendition. (Are you all singing it now too?  LOL.)  Elaine has a great plan though, to become a CHEERLEADER! Raw raw sis boom bah...and all that jazz. (Sorry, I wasn't a cheerleader in any grade, though I did go out for the spirit team and attended a time or two. I was more of a bookworm...go figure right? Who'd have thought?)

That's right! She dreams of being a pom pom toting member of the Cross Creek Middle School Buccaneers cheer team...of course it helps that a certain cute boy she has been crushing on forever (*cough* Todd *cough*) is on the basketball team they cheer for. But wait, what's this? The middle school cheer team is a blended mix of mean girls disguised (though thinly) as nice girls....and worse yet, they don't get poms poms? What's a girl to do when something you wanted so badly is turning out to be not quite what you expected.... Elaine has some hard lessons to learn about life (gotta focus on school), love (cute boy does not always equal nice boy), and cheer leading (it's not all cupcakes and confetti)....but with good friends, a caring family, and a Grandmother not afraid to give others a much needed lesson in deportment, I think she might just have it covered.

Here's another book that you have to love the "grandmother" figure.    Elaine's Grandma may not seem like the coolest person on the block, but she will give any young whipper snappers a run for their money.  She believes in the proper way of things and is intent on passing those thoughts and skills on to her granddaughters.  Her use of the word "deportment" really had me laughing.  I know...what's so funny about THAT word?  Well, it reminded me of my Mom actually.  She LOVED (okay, loves) that word.  Seriously...when I was younger, I can't tell you how often she'd say "be on your best behavior" or call someone out on their bad deportment.  *shakes head*  Gotta love Mom though, as is the case with them all, they try to raise us right and all without an instruction manual either!  KUDOS to all the mom's out there (and Grandma's or other parental figures) for trying your best everyday and helping to make the future of tomorrow...a bit more well behaved.

Anyway....I ran off track there a bit, sorry!  The story is written as journal entries since Elaine just happened to receive a journal for her eleventh birthday.  Every passing thought, wish, dream, heartache and more end up within it's pages and you the reader have special access to that most secret information.  Treat it kindly!  From her deep seated love of comics to the best friends she stands the chance of losing, from tasty rice crispy treats to an unexpected admirer....you get the highs, the lows, and the in-betweens that comes along with the territory at this age.  Remember the struggle of wanting to fit in so badly that you just might lose yourself?  How about those times you wish you had said one thing instead of another?  These situations and more are experienced here.  Elaine's choices and lack thereof will make you smile, make you grimace, make you scream, but they are always made with the innocence of youth and as such you can't help but feel for her in the end.....a special touch of life given to the characters by the author.

This book is listed as Middle Grade YA, though it can be appreciated by any age, but that younger sect may be able to identify with the lead character a tad easier. Throughout the book there are moments of shock, "oh-no-you-didn't" 's, and "how could you" 's, but in the end the sweetness of the overall story wins first place whether or not the basketball team ever does.

Bound galley for review courtesy of author Adrianne Ambrose and Bellbridge Books.  (THANKS!)  For more information on the author's current work as well as her rather interesting bio, visit her website, or blog.  To see this and other titles available from the publisher, check out their website or follow along on Twitter.


COMMENT CREATOR
So let's see....cheerleaders and cheer leading.  A lot of tumbling, dancing, spirit fingers, and the like.  BUT, there is also a LOT of creativity in not only the choreography, but the cheers themselves.  Let's put your creativity to the test.  I challenge you to come up with a little cheer all of your own....subject of your choosing.  The comments are open....let's see what you've got!

We are readers

This is clear

Shout it loud

For all to hear!

Hardbacks, Soft backs

Magazines

We must read

Through any means

Come one come all

Join us right here

As we shout out

This reading cheer!

(Okay...so it's corny, but there's mine....now how bout yours?)

Until next time....happy reading!