My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow

"I've always admired Mr. Steinbeck's writing... However, his account of the Cheerleaders just didn't sit right with me. One passage in particular struck me as being essentially inaccurate.

These were not mothers, not even
women. They were crazy actors, play-
ing to a crazy audience.

My mother was not always a good mother. In fact, she was almost never a good mother. But she was a mother. And she was certainly not always a good woman, but she was a woman--and a human being just like Mr. Steinbeck" (5).

The year is 1960 in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. Thirteen year old Louise is pulled out of school because it is about to be invaded. Her school is William Frantz Elementary and a little first grade girl named Ruby Bridges is marked for the invasion. Despite the city's outcry of protests of this little girl and what she symbolizes, William Frantz Elementary will no longer be segregated.

Louise is just a typical thirteen year old girl. Segregation is not her top priority. She does not see things as black and white. Everything for her is in full color. She rides her bike. She incessantly reads. She plays her own little spy games. She helps out in her mother's boarding house and she longs for her approval and love. Her mother, Pauline, on the other hand, doesn't have time to give her love and approval. She is too busy entertaining her gentleman callers at her boarding house, Rooms on Desire, and protesting with her fellow Cheerleaders against desegregation. She is one of the many who rally and cheer at the school to yell hateful words and throw rotten eggs and tomatoes at that innocent six year old girl. She is also one that looks for attention and love in all the wrong places. Louise, however, wishes that she would use just some of that energy to affectionately rally and cheer in her corner.

As Louise narrates this story, she introduces many colorful characters that come and go from the boarding house. But she takes us on a journey into each of their lives and shows us just how their lives intersect. Each colorful character teaches Louise about compassion, love, and acceptance. But it is through the courage of a boarder named Morgan Miller that Louise and Pauline finally see each other for who they are and for who they want to be.

The story of My Mother the Cheerleader is fiction. But Robert Sharenow added factual and historical elements to create this heartfelt story. But I chose not to give too many details about the Cheerleaders and the wonderful characters that inhabit this story to save the integrity of the story's life-long lessons. This is a story of intolerance, hate, and ignorance. But that is only the symptom of the bigger picture. In many respects, the bigger picture is simply a story about desire.

I think this novel would be a wonderful tool in a high school setting to spark a discussion about how people become so intolerant and hateful. In the end, it's about the path that we take, what we accept into our lives, and what we allow to happen. We become crazy actors in a crazy world. We forget what we truly desire.