Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
As a cis person, I'm not an expert on this rep, and I thought that this was done well, but if I am mistaken, please bring it to my attention.
Cheer Up is one of those sweet books that give people warm and fuzzy feelings. I loved Bebe's sweet and kind character, and her character growth, and how she grew into being able to stand up for herself, and I loved her to bits. I also saw so much of myself in Annie, and she was so likable to me. This book was able to take on such heavy topics with grace, and I adored every bit of it. 5/5 stars from me!

Annie has never been on a team in her life, but pressure from her principal and mom to get along better with her peers causes her to try out for the cheerleading squad. There, she's reunited with former friend Beatrice who has been transitioning from male to female for the past year. Beatrice is happy as a girl but hates being the center of attention. Annie doesn't mind attention but desperately needs to work on her people skills. Frasier does an excellent job of exploring the experiences of a trans teen with nuance and grace. Beatrice's struggles are unique but easy to relate to. With the help of Annie and her squad, Beatrice learns to set boundaries and stand up for herself against the jerks and creeps at school. On the other hand, Beatrice helps Annie soften up as she gets to know her teammates and work with them as a team. As their friendship grows, so too does a new romance. This charming story of friendship, romance, and working together is certain to please young adult and adult readers alike.

Thank you to Netgalley and Oni Press for an arc of this graphic novel.

Annie needs to round out her resume with something other than academics, and her mom forces her to join the cheer squad. Even though she is incredibly unpopular at her school because of her negative attitude toward her peers, she is welcomed onto the team by her ex-friend Bebe, the new cheerleading captain and people-pleasure. Bebe is trans and dealing with the pressure of always being in the spotlight and trying to please everyone. Bebe and annie work together to improve each other as they rekindle their friendship and a budding romance.

This was absolutely adorable! Honestly, I don't have any complaints about this book. It had great rep and diverse characters, lovely messages, great character development, and the illustrations were beautiful. I loved the pacing and thought this book was exactly the right length for the story it was telling.

This book also has great fat representation and pretty dresses, so I was obviously all in!

I definitely recommend this book to readers of all ages!

Pub Date: August 10, 2021

Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia and Sexual assault

This graphic novel was everything I could ever want! I loved it so much. It was so cute and made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside! The art style was absolutely adorable and perfect. I just wanted to jump right on in there with these girls.
I can not stress enough how much I love girls uplifting girls and this book embodies that so well! I love seeing the girls grow and learn and watching the relationship between the MCs develop was so heartwarming. I want a physical copy of this book right now so I can show it to everyone i know and just endlessly gush about how dang cute it was!

Cheer Up! is almost unbelievably adorable. It's a queer teen sports romcom in the vein of "Check, Please!" - but with the added bonus of handling teen girl issues with kindness and poise. The cheerleading team makes for a great group of characters with opposing personalities but still-deep friendship, and they're a lovely backdrop to the romance between Bebe and Annie.

(SLIGHT spoilers ahead, but only in a vague motioning-at-themes way. And they're not really spoilers, because you know what the story beats in teen romcoms are! We all do, because they're wonderful).

Bebe and Annie, meanwhile, get to be the very best parts of the book. Bebe is a trans girl who not only gets a nuanced storyline about managing how her community responds to her trans identity, but ALSO gets a very classic-YA storyline about finding her own voice as she grows into herself as a person - and I LOVED that. I loved that she got to do both. I loved that they got to overlap. I loved that it fits Bebe right into the coming-of-age canon of teen girl RomComs, which is right where she belongs. Annie has somewhat less growth - because Annie already knows who she is - but that actually really works to provide rich contrast. Annie has already grown into HERSELF, but she needs to work out how to be part of a community, and the cheerleading team gives her exactly that opportunity. It's so great to see BOTH of them grow, rekindle their early-childhood friendship as complicated teens, and then, of course, fall in love!

Oh, and there's also a FABULOUS homecoming dance full of great dresses, great stand-up-for-yourself moments, a very punk character in tiara, and a magical teen-movie-worthy kiss. Because of course there is. It's just that freaking cute.

(Also, Annie's mom was right all along. Which is excellent, because she was my not-so-secret fave from the first moment we met her).