Customer Reviews

My Mother the Cheerleader

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"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!

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.

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.

This book takes place in New Orleans in the 1950s. At this time, the civil rights movement was taking place. Louise, a 14 year old girl from a poor white family, is finally getting a grasp on what is going on and her perspective of the whole controversy.
In Louise's school district, for the first time, a little girl of African descent by the name of Ruby Bridges was attending an all-white school. Every morning, Ruby Bridges walked up the steps into the school surrounded by bodyguards. A group of women, who opposed the integration of schools, harassed the little girl every morning. This group was called the Cheerleaders and Louise's mom was one of them. Louise's mom, Pauline, has never been kind and has never cared for Louise. She pulled Louise out of school, due to this integration policy. As a result, Louise had to work in the family-ran business, a little inn called Rooms on Desire. A constant visitor was Pauline's drunken boyfriend who would constantly abuse Pauline. This man was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. One day a man from New York came down to New Orleans to visit his brother. Louise felt that this man was the one person that would actually listen to her. This man also brought trouble into the town by having a hidden identity that many people disapprove of. With all this new action in the town, Louise finally has her own perspective and her own wholesome morals.
The author's writing was so realistic and made this book very deep. The character development of everyone was strong and realistic throughout this book. Although this book was sad, it seemed really believable. It was almost like it was a true story being told through the eyes of a fourteen year old girl.
There are two main ideas that lead to a plot; a person goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. This story contained both of these ideas. Louise went on a journey mentally. She learned right from wrong by observing the New Yorker's opinion. The stranger traveled all the way to New Orleans, the city of his childhood, from New York to see his brother. He happened to stay longer than he needed to which gave him the opportunity to witness the changes in New Orleans from the time he lived there. The plot was like no other book I've ever read, and of all the characters, the most intelligent one was Louise.
I recommend this book for people who are interested in history, and how things became the way they are now. The combination of the plot and the realistic touch on the writing made it one of the best books I've ever read.

This is a very important work of historical fiction and should be read by preteens, teens and adults. As other reviewers note, it deals with the efforts to desegregate the schools in the South in the 1960s and is written from the perspective of a 13 year old child who's mother protests against integration. The author's decision to write from this viewpoint is original and brilliant. He creates a powerful story that resonates in the reader, bringing a human dimension to issues that are often taught as the "right" and "wrong" sides in a history class. His protagonist is believable and sympathetic. The book also touches on subjects of loneliness, abandonment and adolescent growth. This really should be taught along side any history course dealing with this period of American History.

It isn't often I read a new author who really has everything together: plot, action, twists, tying up loose ends & a really satisfying ending. This book surpassed all my expectations. Louise's mom is a "cheerleader", someone who protests against racial integration of the schools in the 1960s. This really dives into the psyche of what was happening at the time in New Orleans. Really like the sense of loss combined with the sense of discovering a new connection with her mother--a bittersweet, touching novel.

For my history book project, I was required to read "My Mother the Cheerleader" by Robert Sharenow. "My Mother the Cheerleader " describes the pitfalls of segregation through the eyes of 13 year-old Louise Collins. Unlike many books about racism, the book is told in the perspective of a white female. Louise was born in New Orleans. She lives with her mother who runs a boarding home. Her mother is a Cheerleader- the name dubbed to the mothers to stood out to jeer at Ruby Gates as she entered school everyday. Unlike many mothers, Louise's mother is practically unconcerned with her child's welfare. Instead, she enjoys entertaining male guests with her seduction. Since Louise's birth she has felt she experienced the troubling segregation and poverty that hangs over the ninth ward like a thick New Orlean's fog. Like many adolescents, she has become accustomed to it; it does not trigger any emotion reaction within. However, with the help of a handsome man, Morgan Miller, who shows up at the boarding house day, Louise begins to rethink everything that has been instilled in her. However, Louise's world soon comes crashing down when local radicals become suspicious of the newcomer . Louise Collins remembers, "For the briefest moment Morgan Miller had been my ideal father, brother, teacher, friend, Edward Rochester, and Prince Charming all rolled into one. And life had seemed a little less bleak. But just as quickly as he appeared, he was gone..." "My Mother the Cheerleader" is a very well written. At many times, it the audience examining our current circumstances in history involving prejudice. If you are wondering: why Miller was driven away and what will become of Louise? Read "My Mother the Cheerleader" to find out. It's not only a great story, but it will help you understand the underlying issues of racism and prejudice in our society. It is a fast-reader that I am sure you will enjoy. =)

What agree with "Mama Amour." This story captures a difficlut time in our nations past and presents it with thoughfullness, clarity and a strong eye for detail. Anyone interested in reading about our troubles with racial relations in the country would be well served by Rob Sharenow's ficticious account of a turbulent time. The characters are well drawn and the tension between the generations and races is presented with clarity and complexity without pandering or reducing the characters to stereotypes.

Good emphasis on the visual and plot makes for an easy and enjoyable read. My only complaint is that the length is a little short for my taste - there were times when I wanted to more more about the characters and events, but the momentum of the book moved past them too quickly. New Orleans in the 60's is a fascinating place, and while the book does a great job of describing the time and place - I wanted more. Disclosure - I love travelogue type books.

A great first novel and I look forward to his next effort. It has echoes of "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" and would be good choice for any social studies class.