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What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader

by Adrianne Ambrose (Goodreads Author)

3.45 · rating details · 20 ratings · 12 reviews

Eleven-year-old Elaine Rewitzer is funny, smart and happy being a geek, but when she wins a spot on the Cross Creek Middle School Buccaneers cheerleading squad, she gets totally into her new life. Her mega-brain best friend Bethany warns that Elaine will just become "part of the herd," and her best geek-guy-pal, Tim, (who's struggling with nose polyps) feels forg

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Paperback, 202 pages

Published July 1st 2010 by Bell Bridge Books (first published June 30th 2010)

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The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading by Charity Tahmaseb

The Accidental Cheerleader by Mimi McCoy

I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader by Kieran Scott

Cheerleading

9th out of 11 books — 6 voters

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(showing 1-30 of 57)

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Mar 09, 2011

Reading Vacation's Mom rated it

REVIEW
I can relate to Elaine because I am also an eleven-year-old “geeky” girl who is going into middle school. Elaine’s diary is written just like a typical tween girl would write. I appreciate that Ambrose got Elaine’s emotional and maturity levels just right. The tween voice wasn’t overdone – it was perfect.
If you were ever a Brownie or a Girl Scout, you may recognize this little song….
“Make new friends, but keep the old
One is silver and the other gold.”
That song pretty much sums up the ad...more

· see review

Aug 30, 2011

Jennifer rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: full-length-reviews, ebooks

Sometimes, it turns out, you can judge a book by its cover.

When I first saw this particular cover -- about a year ago -- I was struck by three things: First, it was a book about cheerleading, which always grabs my attention; second, it seemed to promise a fun time; and third -- and what was a deal-killer at the time -- it appeared to be sloppily edited. The word "Buccaneers" on the girls’ uniforms is incorrectly spelled with one ‘c’ ("Bucaneers"). How is it possible...moreSometimes, it turns out, you can judge a book by its cover.

When I first saw this particular cover -- about a year ago -- I was struck by three things: First, it was a book about cheerleading, which always grabs my attention; second, it seemed to promise a fun time; and third -- and what was a deal-killer at the time -- it appeared to be sloppily edited. The word "Buccaneers" on the girls’ uniforms is incorrectly spelled with one ‘c’ ("Bucaneers"). How is it possible, I wondered, that a book's cover can pass through so many hands and a glaring, ridiculous error like that be overlooked? The artist, of course, is to blame in the first place. But after that, there's a litany of supposedly literate people who should have caught the mistake: the editor, cover designer, and author being only three members of the team. Well, said I to myself, they are clearly an amateur crew over there at Bell Bridge Books, and I would do well to avoid spending $12.95 on what would likely be a badly written and edited book. So I crossed it off my list and went about reading other books with nice covers that had no spelling mistakes.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, when I noticed that What I Learned From Being A Cheerleader was being offered for free as a Kindle book. I don't own a Kindle, but I do own an Android device with the Kindle software on it, so I downloaded the book to see if my earlier impressions were justified. Interestingly, I discovered that the cover is very representative of what lies on the electronic pages within.

First off, the book is fun. Elaine, the eleven-year-old diarist whose adventures in cheerleading we follow, is intelligent, likable, and for the most part, very much eleven. Occasionally, the sheer number of diary entries she makes gives the reader pause – how many girls of her age would, day after day, week after week, write so copiously and religiously in their diary? But this never really becomes a problem as the entries sound very much like a middle-school girl’s thoughts, with all the ups and downs, smiles and tears, worries and joys that are constants in a pre-teen’s life. Through her diary we meet Elaine’s friends and family, and other acquaintances, and at least one of them springs vividly to life: her grandmother. In the beginning, the reader, like Elaine, is put off by Grandma’s stringent, Victorian mind-set, but as she grows on Elaine, so she does on us. In some ways, in fact, Grandma is the focal point of the plot as it applies to Elaine’s developing maturity.

The cheerleading aspects of the book did not disappoint. The other girls on the squad were nicely portrayed, stereotypes and clichés being mostly avoided. There were mean girls, of course, but they weren’t stuck in a predictable, and unrealistic, rut of endless cruelty, and it was sometimes difficult to tell how they were going to act towards Elaine at any given moment. This added a bit of unexpected suspense to the story.

And now we come to my third impression drawn from the book’s cover: poor editing. Alas, that turned out to be accurate as well. There are words missing in the text here and there, and a few other annoying problems, the most glaring one occurring near the end and interrupting the flow of the book. Elaine dates each entry, as in a normal diary, and all is well through February 12. The next entry, however, is listed as January 13 and the final one as January 14. Considering that the book was building towards Valentine’s Day, this is a jarring error. I was momentarily confused enough to have to flip back (tap back) through the pages to double-check the dates. Not something an author wants her reader to do as her story is pages away from its ending.

On the whole, though, I enjoyed the book. It reads easily, the characters are interesting –- Awesome, though we never formally meet her, was a favorite -– and watching Elaine’s life as a cheerleader unfold was worth putting up with the various editing miscues. Should the author choose to open Elaine’s diary to us again –- What I Learned From Being a High School Cheerleader, for instance -– I would happily buy the book.
(less)

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Oct 04, 2010

Ava rated it

It's been awhile since I picked up a Middle Grade book, but I decided to give this one a try because I remember how a few short years ago I used to love books like this. What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader is no exception. It's a cute and funny story that I think would've definitely entertained me when I was younger. I really liked Elaine- she was a great main character who I could relate to if I was her age.

The book is told in diary-style format, and Elaine likes to give random ...more

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Aug 05, 2010

Gmr rated it

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. Elaine has a great plan though, to become a CHEERLEADER! That's right! She dreams of being a pom pom toting member of their cheer team...and it helps that a certain cute boy she has ben crushing on forever is on the basketball team they would be cheering for. But wait, what's this? The middle school cheer team is a blended mix of mean girl...more

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Sep 26, 2010

Amber rated it

Shelves: books-i-own, reviews

This novel was a stretch for me because I'm not used to reading MG. I feel a little like I'm out on a ledge here looking down but I'm going to review it like I would any other book and if I say something that doesn't pertain to this genre, disregard it!

Elaine's voice really drew me into the story and reading about middle school really brought me back. I thought the book had great voice, a good plot, some cute characters, and a really fun form it was written in.

Elaine was ...moreThis novel was a stretch for me because I'm not used to reading MG. I feel a little like I'm out on a ledge here looking down but I'm going to review it like I would any other book and if I say something that doesn't pertain to this genre, disregard it!

Elaine's voice really drew me into the story and reading about middle school really brought me back. I thought the book had great voice, a good plot, some cute characters, and a really fun form it was written in.

Elaine was a really great narrator. She was right at that point in her life when she really didn't know much about herself and was just figuring out how to start the process of being who she wants to be. It was really fun watching her transform from the person she thinks she is to the person she might want to be to the person she becomes. She's a pretty nice girl who just wants to have multiple interests. Too bad her interests are on opposite spectrums of the cool-meter. She has a really difficult time figuring out what's really going on and how she should handle the situation but she eventually learns her lesson.

I enjoyed how big of a role Mom played. All the group-ups in this novel were encouraging and really tried to push Elaine to be the best she could. Mom was smart and forgiving and truly was the guiding light. My favorite character was Mean Grandma, who in fact, was really mean at all. She was funny, unique and the one character that really made me like. Plus, I loved hearing her words out of Elaine's mouth. It was too cute.

The plot itself was a little lacking for me. I liked the whole cheerleading pulling her away from who she is thing that Ambrose did a masterful job at illustrating but I felt like the middle dragged a little. Thing went from bad to really bad to a little better to a litter more better to a lot better to really bad for Elaine and I would have liked to see them go from bad to worse to better to terrible. I would have also liked a conclusion with the Dave plot line. Not even a lot more but just maybe him calling and Elaine signing out just so I know that she was left with a lot of good stuff going her way. I wanted her to be rewarded since she seemed to generally learn her lesson!

Another thing that got a bit cumbersome was the diary aspect. I liked a lot of things about it being in diary form-- the fact that we get Elaine's true feeling, we see what she chooses to write and her voice which tells us loads about her. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way was that everything had to be re-told after the action had happened. For some scenes, I found myself wanting to be there with her, not getting a secondhand account later when all of the good stuff had already been done. This is a risk that is taken when choosing a form like this. It worked for the most part but I sometimes found myself longing to be there with Elaine.

I want to say that this novel does an excellent job of bringing up middle schoolers. Before reading this novel, I'd tucked middle school away in this file in my brain and written in red ink Do NOT Open all over it. This novel brought that file to light. All of a sudden I was remembering how difficult middle school is and how mature you actually are when you get there. I found myself wondering throughout this novel if some of Elaine's observations where a little too advanced but then I remembered my middle school days and realize they weren't. It also made me look harder at the people around me. For instance, I was walking in the mall and saw a herd of middle schoolers walking by, trying to be cool on a Friday night. I really took the time to notice how the girls dressed and carried themselves and when I peered harder, I even saw some boys in the pack (though you really had to look since most of the girls were taller than them, ha!) and how they interacted with the girls. Before reading this story, it was like I had on blinders when it came to that age group. Now, I can see!

Overall, this novel was a great little read that showed a lot of character growth and maturity. I really enjoyed this book and I think I learned a thing or two about being a middle school cheerleader myself!(less)

· see review

Sep 27, 2010

Emilie added it

Shelves: middle-grade, own, reviewed

Elaine wants to be a cheerleader but doesn’t want to tell her friends that she plans on trying out for the squad. They probably wouldn’t understand and would just make fun of her for wanting to try out. But then she actually becomes a cheerleader and all her hopes of becoming popular and finally talking to Todd Watson, the cutest boy on the basketball team, seem to be about to come true. But as it turns out, becoming a cheerleader doesn’t guarantee immediate popularity and she can’t admit to any...moreElaine wants to be a cheerleader but doesn’t want to tell her friends that she plans on trying out for the squad. They probably wouldn’t understand and would just make fun of her for wanting to try out. But then she actually becomes a cheerleader and all her hopes of becoming popular and finally talking to Todd Watson, the cutest boy on the basketball team, seem to be about to come true. But as it turns out, becoming a cheerleader doesn’t guarantee immediate popularity and she can’t admit to any of her new friends that she’s really into comic books because they would just think that she’s a total geek. When everything was supposed to be so good for Elaine things end up going from bad to worse.

I remember being eleven years old and being just like Elaine. I even had a diary and wrote just about everything in it. Even though I’m close to being ten years older than that now, I can still relate to Elaine. At least, the eleven-year-old in me totally did. Adrianne Ambrose really got what it feels like to be eleven years old and wanting to be popular. To me, Elaine was really realistic and I could easily have pictured my younger self in her place. Despite what people say about your high school years being tough middle school is just as hard. You’re only starting to be interested in certain things (boys) but still don’t want to let go of the things that made you happy when you were a little younger (like go trick-or-treating). A lot of middle school girls probably feel just like Elaine does in the book.

The story was really cute as well. It’s one of those books where you know everyone is going to live happily forever after but you still insist on reading it just because of how good it makes you feel. Reading the book, I just wanted to go back to middle school where everything was just so much easier even if at the time it seemed like I would never make it through alive. Half the time I could picture myself, as I was when in was eleven, in the story or just thinking “Oh I remember when this and that used to seem like the biggest problem I could have.” It was really fun to go back to that time through the story.

What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader was a great story. It reminded me of how much I used to love all those Middle Grade books and that I should really go back to reading them from time to time. I wish I could pass on this book to people of that age I know, but most of them are boys and I doubt many of them would want to read about a cheerleader, even if Elaine is a total comic book geek.(less)

· see review

Dec 09, 2010

Michael rated it

Hey, I'm supporting a friend ... I know that I'm not the target audience of this one. So what?

Love who you are and be who you are. Those are lessons I wish someone had taught me when I was a kid. That's what this story is about!

like 1 like

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Jul 15, 2010

Ari Noth rated it

Is it so wrong to say, that yes 3 years ago, when I was entering 6th grade this probably would have been what my diary looked like? What I Learned From Being A Cheerleader is a fun novel based on a 11 year old girl's diary. It shows how hard the transition from Elementary school to Middle School is and how hard it is sometimes to choose being cool, or your best friends. Being a tween is the hardest years of your life, right along side being a teenager. This really relates to all tweens out there...more

· see review

Oct 06, 2010

Jessi rated it

Shelves: arc, childrens, young-adult

I'm going to admit that I wasn't sure about this book at first because, being the biggest nerd in the world, I really am not in love with cheerleading or cheerleaders, but as a teacher, I was very interested to see how the events of this story would play out. I was also concerned by the fact that the entire text of the book takes the form of journal entries. My doubts about this book, however, were completely erased by reading it.

I was blown away by Adrianne Ambrose's amazing charact...more

· see review

Aug 27, 2011

Darcysmom rated it

· review of another edition

Adrianne Ambrose does a terrific job of voicing the woe that is middle school/junior high. Elaine is a very likeable protagonist - especially when she fails epically (like all of us do at that age).

Bethany and Tim are excellent friends to Elaine - even when they stop talking to her. Elaine is forced to learn some of the hard lessons that come with growing up when she alienates Bethany and Tim.

Almost all of the cheerleaders are the epitome of mean girl - they suck Elaine i...more

· see review

Nov 04, 2010

Heather added it

Shelves: middle-grade, contemporary, read-in-2010, fiction

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was truly great. I think most of the credit has to go to Elaine, because she's such a great character that I fell in love with instantly.

It's in the format of Elaine's diary, which I thought was perfect for this story. You really got a sense of what Elaine was like from the way she described people and events. It was great to have her point of view.

I saw a lot of Elaine in myself when I was 11 or 12. I wanted to be popular, yet I liked h...more

· see review

Aug 17, 2011

Heather rated it

Really easy read..as an adult, it's funny to look back at how overly dramatic most of us were as pre-teens but I also think it would be a great read for girls around 8-10ish with good lessons to learn in it. Will definately hold on to for my daughter when she's old enough.

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Feb 04, 2012

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