The Cheerleader

Book excerpt: 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 WEEKLYOne of the truest portraits of an American girl ever written.--DETROIT FREE PRESSIt's heartbreaking at times, hilarious at others, and she's got it all down beautifully.--PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERIf 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 STARA devastatingly accurate portrait of the '50s.--LIBRARY JOURNAL