The Cheerleader

Here is what it was like to grow up in the 1950s in the years of ponytails, pajama parties, proms, and "parking", when to be popular was important and when, if you were a girl, being important meant being a cheerleader. THE CHEERLEADER is a best-selling novel about the loss of innocence, the growth of passion, and the awakening of ambition."A classic."--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY"One of the truest portraits of an American girl ever written."--DETROIT FREE PRESS"It's heartbreaking at times, hilarious at others, and she's got it all down beautifully."--PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER"If future historians and sociologists are ever impelled to find out what it was like to be a high school student in America at mid 20th century, they will need go no farther than THE CHEERLEADER for documentation and enlightenment...Utterly honest, accurate, and sympathetic."--KANSAS CITY STAR"A devastatingly accurate portrait of the '50s."--LIBRARY JOURNAL

Once I received a desperate phone call from a woman whose beloved copy of The Cheerleader had been sold by mistake in a yard sale.

I've received letters from The Cheerleader fans wailing that their copies were borrowed by friends and never returned. I've received pathetic descriptions of copies that disintegrated after years of being read over and over. Everybody has asked: When will The Cheerleader be in print again?

The mail that has continued to stream in ever since The Cheerleader was first published includes many amazing tales. My favorite: Jennifer, now in her thirties, recalled how in her girlhood she managed with great determination to find her mother's copy of The Cheerleader hidden under the mattress of a king-size bed, "way in the middle!" Recently Jennifer packed The Cheerleader in her suitcase ready for the trip to the hospital to have her own child; "Mom is hoping to be there for the birth, so I think it will be quite hilarious to come full circle--reading aloud the book she banned as I'm giving birth to her grandchild!" As soon as Jennifer came home with her baby daughter, she took part in a "group read" of The Cheerleader on the Internet.

All these devoted fans and all those who have asked for the chance to read The Cheerleader for the first time have now got their wish. The Cheerleader is back in print!