Book Recommendations for the Cast of CHEER
It’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day and if you’re anything like us, you’re only thinking of one female dominated sport: cheer. Or, more specifically, CHEER on Netflix. We’ve been biting our nails in anticipation of Daytona – even though we could have easily Googled the results, even though we know Navarro Cheer is the best in the land. And now that we’ve exhausted this incredibly addictive series, all we want to do is cheer on the women of CHEER. Which is how we came up with the not nerdy at all, totally normal idea of sending them some book recommendations.
For Lexi: Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Over the course of the season – and over these few months of her actual life – Lexi has to navigate some pretty serious harassment online. And she blames herself for a lot of it, because that is how our society has conditioned young women to respond. We want to recommend Chanel Miller’s incredible memoir Know My Name, the account of the incredible young woman who was, until the release of this book, known simply as Emily Doe in the Brock Turner case. Miller navigates so many of these same voices as Lexi, both internally and externally – unraveling them as she comes to terms with them in the context of her own life, her own world. She challenges the societal expectation that victims must be flawless in order to be believed. And she does it all with an incredible writing voice lifting her story.
Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound
For Morgan: Girl Squads by Sam Maggs
When we think about Morgan, the first thing that comes to mind is her love for the rest of the Navarro Cheer team – especially the young women who have shown themselves to be so much more than her friends. In so many ways, this team has become her family. And we wanted to suggest a book that resonated on the same frequency. Girl Squads explores twenty female friendships that change the course of history, women like the Edinburgh Seven, who went on to become the first women admitted to medical school in the United Kingdom, or The Zohra Orchestra, an all-female music collective from Afghanistan who defied laws and threats in order to make music together.
Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound
For Gabi: The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West
It’s impossible to separate our thoughts about Gabi from the controlling energy of her entire family. But when you get Gabi alone, when the camera is able to eavesdrop on her at practice, it becomes clear that she’s incredibly smart and headstrong. We want to recommend Lindy West’s latest book The Witches Are Coming because we know deep down, Gabi has that same loud feminist energy. And it’s our hope that West can inspire her to speak her mind and make some incredible choices – not because her parents say she has to, but because she’s in charge of her own body and her own destiny. Plus, this book is truly laugh out loud funny. And we can all use a laugh in our lives.
Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound
For Sherbs: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
We love Sherbs so much and are forever wishing her a speedy and safe recovery. (We know, we know. Filming wrapped months ago. But still.) And while she’s easing back into cheer life, we want to recommend our very favorite book of last year – and it looks like the voters over at the National Book Award agree. Trust Exercise takes readers through what it’s like to work with a tight knit group of collaborators – theatre people, in this case – and the lengths we go through to believe the story we tell ourselves. It’s such a psychological trip, one that is sure to be devoured and then passed around the entire Navarro Cheer squad becuase Sherbs is going to want to talk to someone about this book. Immediately. That’s how good it is.
Buy the book:
