[image error] ***ARC provided by Netgalley and Oni Press in exchange for a review***

Aw, this was so darn cute!

Cheer Up is a fairly short, super cute graphic novel about two MCs, a people-pleasing trans girl and her anti-social lesbian ex-best-friend who re-bond over cheerleading. Cheerleading isn’t the forum I’d expect two diverse characters to show up in - admittedly my knowledge of American high school cheerleading is derived from YA books and Glee, but I always thought that cheerleading was basically like the opposite of diversity? Maybe things are changing though, because the cheerleading team in this book were very inclusive. 

The plot covered a lot of ground in relative few pages - there was sexuality and gender, family dynamics, romance, microagressions, consent, sexual assault as well as a pretty good plot that didn’t dip into preachiness. I think there was a danger this book could have become like an after school special on Isn’t Inclusivity A Good Thing, but it managed to avoid doing that. The characters visibly grow and develop too, which I wasn’t expecting for such a short book. 

4 stars