The Accidental Cheerleader

Candy Apple #1

by Mimi McCoy

Candy Apple is a fresh, fun take on fiction for a new line with pep and pizzazz targeted at the solid middle-grade reader.

When shy Sophie's best friend, Kylie, signs them both up for cheerleading tryouts, it's Sophie who lands in the spotlight - and Kylie ends up on the sidelines. Now Kylie is stuck playing mascot, and she doesn't exactly get along with Sophie's new friends on the squad.

Things really spin out of control right before the big game, and Sophie has to choose sides. Can the girls rediscover how to root for each other before the clock runs out on their friendship?

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult, Chick Lit

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2009

About the author

Mimi McCoy was a cheerleader the same year that Halley's Comet was last seen, an accomplishment she attributes to cosmic fortune, since she never made the team again. Ms. McCoy has since traded in her pompoms for a pen and now lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Jacobe D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shy little Sophie Smith and her best friend in the whole world Kylie are about to take on 7th grade. Kylie being incredibly outgoing, friendly, and loud (especially with her electric green eyes and blonde curls) is very "striking," as some might say. Whereas Sophie is easily embarrassed, quiet, sweet and sentimental, with her brown, shoulder-length hair she is quite, well... average. But when Kylie signs them both up for cheerleading tryouts, Sophie's world is turned upside down in a back handspring sort of way. All of a sudden, Sophie is in the spotlight when she makes the team. But who do you think didn't? Kylie. And now Kylie is stuck as the school mascot, angrily insulting the cheerleaders while Sophie is trying to balance two different life's, as it seems: being Kylie's BFF and being a cheerleader.

But with new friends like Kiesha Rays (aka the most popular girl in the 8th grade! Actually, make that the whole school!), Sophie has forgotten about Kylie. And what about her possible first crush? He no longer seems like such a huge deal... until he and Kylie start ignoring her. Why?! What has Sophie of all people done wrong?! And when Kylie is angry enough to ruin the cheerleaders once and for all... what will happen to a friendship that once meant everything? Will Sophie and Kylie ever be friends again?

The Accidental Cheerleader was a sweet short story about the meaning of friendship, kindness, and staying true to who you are. This was my second time reading this book, and I have to say, it was just as good as the first time! I could relate this book to Always Abigail, because they both have similar themes, and, although I don't have a book review, I highly recommend reading Always Abigail too! When reading The Accidental Cheerleader, I felt angry at characters, but happy at what they had become. The Accidental Cheerleader is full of dynamic characters and even a few static that you might pick up along the way. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a friendship tale with a happy ending! Happy reading!

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this is a pretty good book for preteens and tweens. It is about Sophie and Kylie who are best friends. Kylie is really excited about cheerleaser tryouts and she signs both of them up. Sophie is the one who ends up getting the spot on the team and she makes new cheerleader friends. Should she choose between them? The Candy Apple series is fun and exciting. The only bad thing is that the books are extremely short and you get done with them in one day. But I think that those 100 pages are definitely worth it!

[Cheryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it because it is about cheerleading and i love cheerleading!

Hope if you read it you will like it too!

[Julia Hu · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book!!!
btw, i know this is irrelevent to the story, but isnt the girl on the cover so pretty? just an opinion. =P

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book and finished it in one day, but I didn't like how Kylie was so drama-filled in the beginning because she didn't make the cheerleading squad, she still was the mascot and she could have been proud of her friend.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that I grabbed off of a shelf in the library and read it in under 45 mins. It was enjoyable and I would recommend it to the group of girls around 8, 9, 10.

[Booktastically Amazing]

I just found a hidden notebook beneath files with the words SECRET on top and this one had all these books written in alphabetical order.

Either I was running a Mafia in 2016 or it's a sign-

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't ask why I liked this book. Seriously. It's totally not my type, but i actually liked it a lot b/c of all the daily-drama stuff. I mean it took a normal person and put her into popularity....it was a bit unrealistic, but not bad.
Ok, so its bout this chic named Sophie whos one of those really shy, scared, yet sweet girls in 7th grade who has a typical outgoing friend, blow-out style who always wants to try new stuff then gets bored. Like gymnastics. So Sophie continues all these things that she does with this best friend and goes on to do very well.
So one fine day, this friend (i forgot her name, so im gonna call her Bob) convinces her to try out for the cheerleading squad with her. Sophie can do all the moves but cannot smile, yet Bob has the perfect smile and is sloppy about everything else.
RESULT DAY: Sophie becomes a cheerleader, while Bob is stuck as the mascot (this is no pretty mascot).
So Sophie starts to get into the cheerleader clique, and it torn between them and her best friend. As this happens, she starts to drift away from Bob, slowly.
Then at a halloween dance, she dances with like the all-time football star, the most popular girl's ex-bf....and then most of the cheer squad hates her.
Then she gets into a fight with Bob. And then Bob and Joel (a guy-friend of theirs) hate her.
And then she's depressed.
And then magic happens and everything's OK again....dont ask how. READ IT :):)
Iknow my review sucked, but the book is actually really good. Seriously.

[Mary Kevan]

Sophia and Kylie are two best friends that don't do anything with out each other. Kylie is a outgoing girl who wants to be a cheerleader to become popular. Sophia is quite and shy but Kylie finally convinces her to tryout for the cheer team with her. On the day of the tryouts Sophia makes the cheer team while Kylie is put in the position of the team mascot, the smelly mule. Sophia suddenly rises in the popularity meter while Kylie is annoying Sophia to get attention. Non of Sophia's new cheerleader friends like Kylie and try to convince Sophia to ditch her. Suddenly a rumor starts up that Sophia like the most popular football player in the school. But Sophia really likes her neighbor, and Kylie and Sophia's neighbor get together and both agree that Sophia is changing. Will she stick with her friends who been there for her forever, or will she move to the popular side?

i enjoyed this book, it was very easy to read and a dramatic.

Genre- Drama

[Eva Meng]

I think this book is fantastic and many people should read it because it is about this girl and her friend. the girl is named Sophie and the other one is named Kylie. They both are best friends and they signed up for cheerleading and Sophie gets in the team and Kylie doesn't. Sophie feels torn between her bet friend and her fellow cheerleaders. I think this book should be recommended to people who likes to read books including people who read on the train. I think this is a wonderful book for people to read. I think that Sophie should stick with her best friend because they spend times together to buy clothes and do other things too. I think this is a great book.

People including me should read this book because this is a great story.

[Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book if you like to read sbout cheerleading. THere are these two girls who try out for the cheer team to see if they could make it. But only one of them gets on the team and the other gets put as the mascot. As the year goes on the cheerleader girl is very popular with the other cheeleader and the girl who is the mascot gets jealous. So the big question is does their friendship stay or leave. Read this book to find out.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one of ny favoites when I was younger. Sophie and Kylie are two best friends that are pretty much inseperable. Kylie really wants to do cheerleading but can't get Sophie to do it with her. Finally Sophi agrees, thinking there is no way she could make the team. It turns out that Sophie makes it along with Kylie-who is the mascot. This places hard feelings between the two friends and the drama begins!

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did sophie want to be a cheerleader, no way. She went to try out with her best friend Kylie and ended up making the team. She went from being shy and only 3 friends, to being miss popular. She was working up the courage to tell her best guy friend, how she felt about him and it's all ruined thanks to cheerleading. Her grades drop, she tries to fit in, her parents trust is fading, and her mega crush. What will Sophie do to work things out? Read and you willbe in shocked at the ending.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was in love with this book growing up, but re-reading it for the first time in years, there’s really nothing of adult value here. It honestly feels like a really realistic depiction of middle school culture though, minus the god-like affects cheers have on the outcome of sports games. There’s a lot of anti-makeup stuff in here too which was weird.

The fact that I related so strongly to the main character growing up is probably why I have anxiety today.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for the tweens. About two friends who tries out for cheerleading and the one that didn't want to be a cheerleader makes the squad. The glamour of cheerleading seperate the friendship. I have read the complaints about not being "diverse" enough, but I think this happens in every school. Cute girly story.

[Maddy 11-12 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. I reminded you to always think before you say and think about your actions. It's a great story that relates to all friendships and uses great detail! I love the theme to it and you can really tell that the author did a good job on getting you to think about the character traits for each character. If you like realistic-fiction books, you will really enjoy this one!

[Lubna_y_145510 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book when I first read it. I was 14 years old, so you can imagine how I was excited to finish it. It's kind of lame thinking about it now, but funny though how I loved this book back then. I won't mind going through it again to remember how I felt and how I used to act in certain events when reading this book.

[tree hugger · Rating 5 out of 5]

it taught me that u got 2 stick 2gether

[Lyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good. it was a nice quick read. it worked out great for a book report!

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERY good book. Love how one girl makes the team and the other doesn't.

[Aaron F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very fast and easy read. It was kind of cheesy but I still really enjoyed it. Nice quick easy read.

[Jessica]

Friendship first

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

reaaly lucky girl loved the book

[mykaylah wyatt]

Cool this app is so cool☺

[Karen Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this back in high school and it was my very first introduction to the world of Candy Apple. One must never underestimate the grip Candy Apple series had on middle school students!

Re-reading the entire novel in 2025 made me realize a few things:
1. Mimi McCoy's best work will always be her foray into the Poison Apple book series which are modern, spookier stories written for young girls. Her "Dead End" novel is excellent and still holds up till today. The spooky atmosphere, the vibes, the characters....ugh, I could go on and on.

2. This book was a short and fun read but the characters were not very likable. I realize that the main character, Sophie and her "best friend", Kylie were both crappy to each other. But given that they are pre-teen girls, it makes sense that their behaviour would be a little childish and petty. They both hurt each other although it is arguable that Kylie is indeed a flakier friend who is easily intimidated and envious when her introverted bestie starts to step out of her shell.

3. The main character's crush felt one-dimensional. We don't get much info about the guy character other than that he is so unique and different for liking alternative bands, mixing with different cliques and having messy hair. I think he's decent but I feel like we didn't get much development on him as a person.

4. I could not get much of a grip on Sophie's personality either. The cheerleading aspect in this book was there but it felt a little like window dressing at times. Arguably, the book felt like it was focusing a bit too much on Kylie at times. I wish we had more elaboration on the cheerleaders to at least show us that not all of them were mean and mindless. We had a few decent cheerleader characters but the main letdown was when they deserted Sophie because of a petty head cheerleader's boy problem. The head cheerleader also didn't have any depth or personality other than being mean.

Still, an entertaining and nostalgic read.

[Orkhiroz · Rating 3 out of 5]

➕
1. Pencarian jati diri Sophie sebagai remaja itu sangat relatable. Misalnya, ingin merasa pantas di suatu tempat, ragu yang mana yang normal dan yang mana yang tidak, lalu memutuskan untuk mengikuti yang paling populer saja.
2. Aku benar-benar enggak menyangka Kylie dibuat penulis jadi sangat bisa mengeluarkan seluruh potensinya sebagai maskot karena biasanya di novel-novel semacam ini si sohib terpuruk oleh keiriannya. Dan kedua sohib sama-sama populer di jalan masing-masing.
3. Aku suka ending-nya yang enggak memaksakan percintaan dapat happy ending karena sebagai balasan atas perubahan sikap baik ke buruk itu. Jadi, lebih fokus ke penyelesaian masalah persahabatan.
4. Meskipun mereka mengalami konflik, Sophie dan Kylie masih ada rasa sayang ke satu sama lain dan enggak 100% langsung benci. Mereka masih termasuk berkomunikasi dengan lembut dibandingkan cerita sejenis.

➖
1. Cukup sulit mempertahankan fokusku karena dramanya remaja banget sementara aku bukan target pembacanya dan aku mungkin terkena reading slump.
2. Konflik soal Kylie yang sering memaksakan kehendak sehingga Sophie sering mengalah itu belum terselesaikan dengan baik. Sophie belum membicarakan pemikirannya secara langsung dan baru membalas perbuatan Kylie beberapa kali

[eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok so.

I discovered this ancient book whilst going through old stuff. And today, I was bored. And I know I should be reading The Tale Of Despereaux, because Ceilidh has since returned from her trip and I need to give it back to her, but it just can't seem to grasp my attention for more than 30 pages at a time (sorry, Ceil--my inner procrastinator is making it awfully hard to finish, but I swear I will get it done!).

Anywho, this book was very meh. Not much to it--the classic "girl-has-friend, girl-obliviously-chooses-popularity-over-friend, girl-loses-friend, girl-gets-friend-back-through-an-act-of-selfless-friendship-nonsense" type, you know--so it took me all but a few hours to get through, and there wasn't a lot of emotional attachment. I've read it once before, too, so there's that.

The characters were obviously trying to get fleshed out, but ended up as nothing more than cardboard cut-outs with personality traits written on them in bright red Sharpie. The typical ones, such as: "SHY GIRL, MAIN CHARACTER," "OUTGOING GIRL, BEST FRIEND," "BOY 1 TO HAVE CRUSH ON," "BOY 2 TO HAVE CRUSH ON, POPULAR," "MEAN POPULAR GIRLS, IN CHEERLEADER CLIQUE."

Yeah.

The plot was trying hard. Really, it was. It had cerain decent elements, certain characters I liked, certain aspects that were alright. But it was also lame and perdictable, either taking inspiration from other YA Realism novels or outright copying. A pertinent idea that was poorly concretized.

To sum it up: Would not read again. Is boring. Will be gotten rid of.

[Saylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books like these tend to be too immature for my taste but I'm not the target audience I just read books that I've always wished I could read as a child, kinda like ticking off a thing on my lifetime bucket list. Kylie only started hating cheerleading and the cheerleaders because she was chosen as the mascot. At try-outs Kylie was already acting like one of them without being on the squad, so this makes me think she's just jealous. Sophie wasn't an angel either her expensive spending, trying to get Keisha to like her and outrightly letting her friendship with Kylie go to the dogs.

[Had · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. I definitely recommend it for all ages! The Accidental Cheerleader

[Jeanni Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candy Apple Books are amazing and this is one of my favorites! I make no excuses- long retired, I can’t pretend it’s for “research” anymore. This old gal still loves a good MG story!