Saturday Morning Cartoons- The Squad

Soontornvat, Christina and Cacao, Joanna (illus.)
The Squad (The Tryout #2)
November 12, 2024 by Graphix
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Even though she didn't make the 8th grade cheerleading squad, Christina is having a good year. She still practices the cheer routines with her good friends Megan and Leanne, has a crush on the very cute Andy, is taking home ec, and is very excited about her new art project, which she is working on with a group. It's sculptures of toes, which seems perfectly reasonable for a middle school art project! She still hangs out with Greg (whom she "loves but doesn't 'like'"), and avoids the racist Tobin, who isn't quite as bad as he's been in the past, although his friends still call Christina "rice girl" and other horrible names. While Christina is the only Asian in her small Texas town, when she goes to church and hangs out with other Thai students, she still doesn't feel like she fits in, since she is half Thai and doesn't speak the language. While her life is going pretty well, there is some tension, since her parents' restaurant isn't doing as well as they would like, and her parents are arguing a lot. When it turns out that there will be THREE spots on the high school cheer squad, the friends are sure that they can try out and get them, and that this would be the thing that would make life absolutely perfect. Of course, life changes quickly, and when her father moves out, Christina tries to tell herself that her parents are just separating. Since one of her favorite movies is the Hayley Mills' version of The Parent Trap, she's determined to get her parents back together, and doesn't really listen to what they have to say. Eventually, her parents tell her that it's a done deal; they are divorcing, and the mom sells her half of the house and the restaurant business to the dad. She gets a job, but it's in the nearest large town, and rents an apartment. This is a lot to deal with while tryouts are going on, and it's a big relief when Christina and Megan make the high school squad. Sadly, Leanne doesn't, and this causes a temporary rift. Christina is angry about her parents, and also bears some resentment towards the people who want to be her friend now that she's a cheerleader. Why didn't they want to be her friend before? This causes her to be a bit snotty to others. She's excited about cheerleading camp, but it's a lot of work, and eventually her feelings bubble to the surface and she shares them with her new squad. This helps a little, and while life isn't perfect, it's still pretty good. 

Strengths: I was glad that we had a firm date when this took place: 1994. The historical details are quite good; there's even a stress ball that Megan has that reminded me of one that my students gave me in 1993! The relationships are more strongly portrayed than in other graphic novels I have read, and I especially liked the fact that Christina and Andy go out to the mall on a date... and she finds out that they really don't have much in common! The arc of the divorce seems very realistic, and I imagine that there are a lot of students who delude themselves that their parents will get back together when this won't ever happen. I liked that she was able to discuss this with other classmates, like Andy, whose parents were also divorced. Since I am also a huge Gene Kelly fan, I was greatly amused by her love of this fantastic movie star; maybe tweens will investigate some of his work. There is an undercurrent of racial identity that is worked in nicely as well. There are not as many middle grade novels about cheerleading as you would imagine, and the first book has circulated well in my library. 
Weaknesses: Sure, I know in my heart of hearts that the cheerleaders who were mean to me when I was in middle and high school probably were mean because they were deeply wounded individuals and I should feel sorry for them, but since several of them were still nasty to me at our 40th class reunion, this is hard to believe. We can only hope that cheerleaders today are not as elitist. And snotty. 
What I really think: I love the variety of Soontornvat's writing; she's done nonfiction (All Thirteen, Made in Asian America), fantasy (Legends of Lotus Island and Time After Time), alternative history (The Last Mapmaker), and even a picture book biography (A Life of Service: The Story of Senator Tammy Duckworth)! I'd love to see her do more funny, realistic fiction, but it will just be fun to see what she turns her hand to next!