Cheerleading is one of the few things a child has to audition for before the season even starts. Rec soccer takes everyone who signs up; a squad posts a list. That one difference—the tryout, the wait, the list on the gym door with a name on it or not—runs underneath nearly every cheer book written for children, which is why the shelf is a good deal less sunny than the pom-poms suggest. The other thing these books keep circling is the argument every young cheerleader has already had: whether it counts as a sport at all, usually raised by a brother on a couch, and usually answered by four kids holding a fifth one over their heads.
Our editors read the cheer shelf and chose ten that cover almost everything it does well: a graphic memoir of a real seventh-grade tryout, an American Girl novel about a surfer who takes the dare, a cheer-camp comedy with a family legacy to live up to, a monster-school squad for readers who have only just started chapter books, and the short hi-lo sports fiction librarians reach for when a child announces they will read cheer books and nothing else. Start with the shortlist, then use the shelves below—picture books and easy readers for the age a child first watches a squad from the bleachers, chapter books for the ones already going to practice.
Two seventh graders sign up for cheer tryouts together, and the wait for the posted list tests everything between them.
The youngest daughter of a cheer dynasty turns up at summer cheer camp with her grandmother’s vintage pom-poms and no athletic ability at all.
A surfer girl must tackle cheerleading to win a video contest.
Can friendship survive when competition heats up on the cheerleading squad?
A cheerleader sets out to prove to her brother and his friends that cheer belongs at a sports school.
A cheerleading competition is in jeopardy when magic objects vanish. Can they be found in time?
A new cheer squad splits a fourth-grade class down the middle, right before a magic wind makes everything much worse.
A gymnast joins a competitive cheer team certain the two practice schedules will work out, and then they do not.
A new kid at a monster school gets talked into trying out for the Ghoul Squad by the only friend she has.
A flying hero must infiltrate a cheerleading squad to stop a world-colliding villain.
A short shelf: one barnyard read-aloud with big cheer ambitions, plus easy readers about working all summer for a spot on the squad. Ages 3–8.
A chick's cheerleading dreams clash with a reluctant barnyard.
A girl works hard all summer to overcome her difficulty with spelling so she can achieve her goal of becoming a cheerleader.
A deaf gymnast joins the cheer squad. Can she master the routine in time?
Tryouts, cut lists, cheer camp, squad politics, and the season after somebody else gets named captain—for independent readers ages 6–12.
Twins discover a secret: one is a vampire. Can they navigate their new reality?
Cheer camp turns spooky as pranks escalate. Is it a rival or a ghost?
Tam faces exclusion on the cheer squad. Can she stand up and change her fate?
A cheerleader must choose between friendship and victory.
Can Amanda lead and inspire her cheer squad under pressure?
Elizabeth must choose between her best friend and her twin sister in a cheerleading showdown.
