My Mother the Cheerleader [Hardcover]

Robert Sharenow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2007

Acts of courage come in all shapes and sizes.

In the tumultuous New Orleans of 1960, thirteen-year-old Louise Collins finds her world turned upside down when a stranger from the North arrives at her mother's boarding-house. Louise's mother spends her mornings at the local elementary school with a group of women known as the Cheerleaders, who harass the school's first black student, six-year-old Ruby Bridges, as she enters the building. One day a Chevy Bel Air with a New York license plate pulls up, and out steps Morgan Miller, a man whose mysterious past is eclipsed by his intellect and open-manner—qualities that enchant mother and daughter alike. For the first time, Louise feels as if someone cares what she thinks, even if she doesn't know what she believes. But when the reason for Morgan's visit is called into question, everything Louise thinks she knows about her mother, her world, and herself will change.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* When her mother pulls Louise, 13, out of class to protest the forced court-ordered integration of her school in New Orleans in 1960, Louise never gives the political issues a thought. Everyone knows segregation is the way things are. Sure, she does feel bad that first-grader Ruby Bridges has to endure the vicious racist insults from the white crowds outside the school every morning. Louise's mother, Pauline, is one of those jeering "Cheerleaders." Then New York editor Morgan Miller comes to stay in Pauline's run-down boardinghouse, and his quiet outrage makes Louise begin to raise doubts and questions. But he is a Jew and he may be a Communist, and the Klan goes after him. There is some plot contrivance as Louise acts as sleuth and eavesdrops on the grown-ups. But stirring secrets drive the plot, about Louise's family and about Morgan's, and Pauline turns out to be more than just a vain southern belle; even her politics change, a little. In his debut novel, television producer Sharenow challenges the view that those cheerleaders shouting the n-word were just a few crazy freaks. Readers will be held fast by the history told from the inside as adult Louise remembers the vicious role of ordinary people. For younger children, suggest Ruby Bridges' Through My Eyes (1999) and Ruth Vander Zee's Mississippi Morning (2004). Rochman, Hazel

About the Author

Robert Sharenow is an award-winning writer and television producer. His first novel, My Mother the Cheerleader, was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and a VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers. He is also an Emmy Award-winning television producer and serves as senior vice president of nonfiction and alternative programming for A&E Network and Bio Channel. He lives in New York with his wife, their two daughters, and their dog, Lucy.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061148962
• ISBN-13: 978-0061148965
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awful Title, Great Book, June 27, 2007

By 

Adrienne Parks "Mama Amour" (New Orleans, LA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Mother the Cheerleader (Hardcover)

"My Mother the Cheerleader" has what may be the worst title I've seen in a long while. It made me anticipate a high-school "romp" about sports or perhaps some sort of "Freaky Friday" role reversal between a mother and her child. Instead, "Cheerleader" is a thoughtful, wonderfully evocative memoir of growing up during the early years of school integration (the term "cheerleader" was coined by John Steinbeck to describe the screaming mothers protesting integration in New Orleans). It's a deft, subtle, funny, very moving book I'd recommend to everyone.

True, "My Mother the Cheerleader" is ostensibly a book written for young adults, in that it contains no graphic sex, no obscenities, and its 13 year old narrator is intended to draw us into a child's eye view of the world. But it's a book filled with very serious issues (racism, violence, alcoholism and abandonment) and rewards readers of all ages. Its portrait of New Orleans' Ninth Ward in the early 1960s is dead on, and the observations of its central character are precocious, but never unbelievable. What a wonderful, thought provoking book! Every time I thought, no, the author's gone too far, he won't be able to pull this off, Mr. Sharenow continued to amaze me. A look at recent history that will move and inform everyone. I highly recommend it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Teacher View, February 20, 2009

By 

M. Carton "LA Teacher" (St. Paul Island) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Mother the Cheerleader (Hardcover)

Some people mentioned not liking the title or that this is a "great book" but bad title. The title is very creative and really tells the point of view from which the book was written. I just wanted to set the record straight.

I recently read this book with my students, who will be submitting reviews as well. When I read this book, I knew I was interested in the issues of racial equality and the civil rights movement. I knew I wanted to address the many perspectives racism can be viewed from. I like the awareness for one young girl this book presents.

I do have to admit it took me a bit to get into the book. This isn't a cover to cover page turner. I really do like the character of Louise Collins. She is very real and I can picture her personality. There were some moments, though, I asked myself when I will get to the real good stuff.

Some of the details were a little "frilly" but in the end they help paint the picture of just how hypocritical the idea of "cheerleaders" are. One element to dig into is why these women were called cheerleaders in the first place. There is a lot of satire and irony at play. When teaching this book, it is necessary to point this out. I would have liked to read it together as a class and discuss the intended message in any given statement, since people experience this everyday.

I really liked having a chance to mimic and dramatize the mother's voice. I could tell it helped my students understand the culture of the south as well. I do wonder if anyone from the south would be offended by this portrayal, but I see it as a very true description of what I would imagine an OUTWARDLY fake, self-centered, drama queen, afraid to get old, would be like. After finding a certain detail, I couldn't help but feel sorry for this woman, who doesn't know what to believe, drowns her misery in men and spirits, and is a very alone soul.

The ending made me about want to cry and shout at the same time. It is so sad, but so true of our world and of this particular event.

To follow up with this book, using it in a class, I am showing Ruby Bridges and Jasper, Texas. These go well to help show the twisted circular oppressive nature or racism (that still exists today).

I normally don't like happy endings, but I wanted one in this book. I guess I wanted to show people aren't as evil as they seem. I want someone to have an epiphany, but I guess if that would have happened, Jasper, Texas wouldn't have happened.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but with a lot of discussion and information about Civil Rights, the South, and the issue of Racism. Also, you must watch Ruby Bridges. The idea of what the cheerleaders does come to life. How sad.

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent read for teachers AND students, December 11, 2009

By 

avid reader "dee" (Saginaw, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Mother the Cheerleader (Paperback)

I was 10 years old in 1960 when this book was set. I grew up in Michigan so I wasn't aware of what was going on in New Orleans at the time. (I'm sure my parents were very aware.) I don't know why, throughout all my years of education, that I didn't learn about the cheerleaders, those mothers who yelled racist hate language to children trying to integrate 9th Ward New Orleans schools. Since reading this book and reading the chapter in Steinbeck's Travels With Charley about them, I've come to further believe that we cannot overlook the importance of studying racism and the effects it has on everyone. The main character, a 13 year old, comments that a lot of folks in her neighborhood just didn't think about segregation. It just was the way things were. Many characters in the book felt that integration was being forced on them by outsiders...not by the folks that lived in the 9th Ward. Other characters feld that the 9th Ward was nothing to write home about and that politicians probably felt that the parents wouldn't protest the forced integration being that they were living in a poverty area. I mentioned all this to my current day students in Michigan and they just don't understand/appreciate how federal, state, and local laws promoted racial hatred. Many of my students don't know who Ruby Bridges is. I will be teaching this book in January 2010. I was glad that the author included the titles of the songs so I can play the music when it is mentioned in the chapters. I'm glad he also mentioned streets so I can show them mapquest (I haven't tried GoogleEarth). There is a rape scene in the book that shows just how entitled adult bullies feel and how the police did nothing to prevent the KKK from creating Hell on Earth. Good mixture of issues: racial hatred, antisemitism, integration, segregation. This would make an interesting read aloud. Would be writing activity to create a readers theatre script. Sad and thought provoking book.