King Cheer

by Molly Booth, Stephanie Strohm, Jamie Green (illustrator)

Heartstopper meets Bring It On in this contemporary graphic novel that reimagines Shakespeare’s King Lear as a queer dramedy!

When cheer captain Leah steps down months before graduation, the team is shocked. Waitlisted by her dream college, questioning her identity, and suffering from senioritis, Leah needs to hand the captain’s poms off and focus on her future.

But when the competition for captaincy goes awry, power-hungry twins take command of the squad and immediately pit the cheerleaders against the basketball team in a fight for glory. Balls fly, pom-poms shake, hearts are broken—and only one person can heal the rift between the teams. But first she’ll have to heal herself.

As full of heart as it is backflips and three-pointers, King Cheer is a warm and witty story of self-discovery, friendship, and finding the courage to face your future.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Young Adult, Queer

Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2024

Reviews

[yun with books]

I love the first book better than this. I remembe the LGBTQ story in the first book is cute and sweet. But the second book the story isn’t as gripping as the first one.

[Leila]

A cheerleading reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear. I don't know what I thought this would be, but I was both underwhelmed and surprised.

There were times when parts of the story felt rushed and cut short. But at the same time, it didn't hurt the overall story, so it was fine, I guess. Maybe Shakespeare doesn't lend itself well to the short style of a graphic novel.

Two things that honestly made this so much better for me:

1. Albany-- the complete underdog of the story. I was not expecting his character to step up the way he did. But look at him go, standing up for himself and for what's right. The breakup with Gabe was great too. Made me laugh.

2. Was I the only one who thought Rae and Gabe reminded them of Jessie and James from Pokémon? Honestly, that comparison just popped into my head, and I couldn't stop seeing it throughout the entire story. It colored everything and made it so much more ridiculous for me.

Overall, it was a cute story.

[Jack Strunk-Schwartz]

This is a fun retelling with delightful art, but I'm not sure this play lends itself to this medium very well. Some things felt so smushed together and oddly timed. But also, that's kind of how Shakespeare plays are? So I feel like it isn't the fault of the book itself, just that Shakespeare plays maybe don't lend themselves so well to short graphic novels.

[Nadina]

Not bad, I feel like teens who read the first volume would enjoy it. The illustrations were good, over all story was good. That being said, I am not sure if I personally will continue the series. I feel I a am adult have out- grown it.

[Briana]

Cute, kind of quirky, great rep and good natured fun.

[Elliot]

Genre: realistic fiction
1 LGBTQ main character: demisexual
2 LGBTQ side character: transgender, gay

Importance of identities to plot: 2/5
Romance: 3/5
Coming out: no

[Maggie]

I lost the plot so many times and ended up DNFing which is insane because this is a fairly thin graphic novel. Points for art!

[Kiana]

Enjoyed reading this. Loveable characters.