What do You think about I Was A Non-Blonde Cheerleader (2007)?
Anisa is a brunette, transferred from New Jersey to Florida during the middle of the school year. She starts attending a new school, where apparently every female is blond--except one. The school also boasts a competitive cheerleading squad that is in the running for a national title.When Anisa runs into the guidance counselor at the convience store, getting a pint or two of ice cream after a horrible first day, two of the girls are kicked off the squad for smoking. Everyone assumes Anisa ratted them out to create room on the squad for her, but she tries out to become a cheerleader anyway. And makes the squad. If you're expected a book that delves new ground in the fish out of water and outsider genre, you're not going to really find it here. But if you're looking for a fun, breezy and entertaining book that hits all the right notes, then you'll probably enjoy this one.
—Michael
I liked this a lot more than I expected to. I mean, I knew it was going to be funny and charming for the quirky girls, but I kind of assumed that it would all be based around how those "other" girls are bitches and Our Heroine is totally not that kind of girl, and I was ready to roll my eyes a lot. Really, that *is* kind of how it starts, but it gets better really fast. I should have realized pretty quickly that the book is about one of the kids that goes between cliques, since that's the whole point. It's not like there's any suspense about whether or not Anissa is going to make the team or stay on it once she does, it's in the title. Still, the book goes beyond this to start making antagonistic characters actual *characters* with their own nuances and problems very quickly, and makes a point that girls don't have to be just one thing. Even the girls who seem like "just" cheerleaders have more than that going on, and I really liked the way Scott handles them and Anissa's reaction to them, and I loved Bethany's insistence that nothing be published on her website that tears another girl down, even if she admitted she couldn't hold herself to that standard off the internet. I also liked the treatment of cheerleading as athletic, even if I didn't know what a back tuck was.
—Emily
This was a really cute little book about a girl, Annisa, who moves from New Jersey to Florida during her Sophomore year of high school, and faces all of the challenges that come with that. PLUS, she's the ONLY brunette in the whole school, apparently, so she sticks out like a sore thumb. She's pretty klutzy and doesn't make a very good first impression.... And the guy she has a crush on is going out with this girl who REALLY hates her. One of the girls who really hates her anyway...And then when she goes to try out for the cheerleading squad, ALL of the girls who hate her are on the team (of course). Will she make the team? (Err... yes, the title pretty much gives that one away...) Will the team make nationals? Will her teammates ever get over their issues with her? WILL SHE GET THE GUY??? (That's the most important question, obviously...) Read and find out!PS - This is the first book in the Cheerleader Trilogy, and is followed by Brunettes Strike Back and A Non-Blonde Cheerleader in Love.
—Sara ♥
