Cheerleading Champs

Kids Sports Stories

by Elliott Smith, Amanda Erb (illustrator)

Leah wants to use her gymnastics skills by joining the cheer squad. Leah is deaf, and she worries that this will make cheer difficult. She struggles to keep up with the count of the routine in the first practice. Then Leah meets Monica, who offers to help. Will the girls be able to come up with a plan so the team can nail the routine on competition day?

Genres: Sports

29 pages, Paperback

Published July 21, 2022

Reviews

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leah loves gymnastics so she is very eager to try cheerleading too. Her mom signs her up, but when she arrives she finds it hard to follow the cheer since she can't hear. She doesn't want special treatment because she is deaf, but she also really wants to be part of the cheer team. How can she find a solution?

We have very, very few books on cheerleading and gymnastics in our library so this is a welcome addition. I like that it features a deaf girl and how she and her new friend problem solve to come up with a way to help her stay on the beat. In turn, because of Leah's gymnastics background she has skills that benefit the team and help them grow too. It's a great win win situation. Leah has a cochlear implant but that is never explained in the story so some kids may ask what the thing on her head is.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leah loves gymnastics and she wants to join cheerleading classes. Though Leah cannot hear, she can read lips and has a hearing aid. Everything goes well, until Leah can't exactly get the routine right because she can't always see coach from where she's standing, so she can't read her lips well. She keeps missing the count. Her new friend Monica offers to help, but what can she do help Leah? Will she be able to get the routine right in time for their competition?

We don't have any other fiction books that talk about cheerleading in our elementary library, so this will be a good addition to our collection. I liked how Monica came in to befriend Leah and offer a solution by using vibrations to help Leah.