Product Description

New Jersey transplant and sassy brunette Annisa Gobrowski has a problem-literally everyone at her Florida high school is blonde. No lack of golden highlights is going to stop Annisa from making the cheerleading squad. But after accidentally breaking the most popular girl in school's nose, and discovering the cheerleaders all hate her, she starts having second thoughts. Is it too much to ask to land a spot on the team, win the heart of her dreamy crush and make tons of new friends?

Annisa is on the verge of giving up, but the cheerleader in her just won't let her quit. She may be a little different, but Sand Dune High had better watch out-this non-blonde is here to stay in this hilariously funny new novel.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1249928 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Booklist
Gr. 7-10. Sophomore Annisa has moved from New Jersey to Florida, where she gets off on the wrong foot almost immediately, especially with the cheerleading squad. She attracts one girl's boyfriend, moves into another's recently vacated home, and hits a third in the nose with a door. So when she makes the squad, the welcome mat is not exactly out. Her most visible difference is her dark, short hair; even the team's African American coach is a blonde. In generalities, the story is predictable. By the end of the book, Annisa, the narrator, is spouting lines such as, "It didn't even matter how we did at regionals on Saturday because at that moment we weren't just a squad. We were friends." Still, the specifics are fun and definitely au courant, as Annisa discovers love, friendship, and backflips as she deals with prank wars, unsupervised parties, and cheerleading crises. Since there's a lot about competitive cheerleading, the pom-pom inclined will especially like this. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Scott’s funny, fast-paced narrative will leave readers smiling. -- School Library Journal

Review
Scott’s funny, fast-paced narrative will leave readers smiling. (School Library Journal)

Customer Reviews

Good stuff
Our main heroine is new to the school and to the cheerleading squad. She also happens to be one of the only students who is not blonde in this Florida high school.

This book starts off with a bang. By introducing the lead character into a new school, full of "Britney Spears" wannabes. You can actually imagine Annissa, short haired AND brunette (how dare she) trying to figure out how she is going to survive her year at the new school.

She is pitted against these wannabes who are determined to make her life as difficult as possible. On top of all that, they are part of the cheerleading squad that Annissa wants to join.

What ensues is a bunch of exchanges between the parties and funny (sometimes not so funny) events and overall a great storyline.

Mind you, the storyline has been DONE before, but it is well written and fun to read.

I was really into it until about 3/4 of the book when things get horribly mushy and extremely predictable. This, I did not care for so much. The author could have made the ending a tad less predictable. Which would have added more depth to the book.

Otherwise, it was a great read.

Another Hit By Kieran Scott
Sixteen-year-old sophomore, Annisa Gobrowski, was more than happy living her life in New Jersey, where she had actual friends, and wasn't the only brunette in sight. But it's a known fact that when you're happy, something depressing is bound to happen. And that's how Annisa ended up in Florida, trying to fit in at a high school - Sand Dune High School, to be exact - filled with blondes, where she is the only one who hasn't yet reached for a box of Herbal Essences Amazon Gold. Annisa quickly finds that she sticks out like a sore-thumb. Not only because of her hair color, but due to the fact that she has made friends with Daniel Healy, a guitar-playing, football-wrestling-track star, who just happens to have a popular girlfriend on the varsity cheerleading squad. And, as if that isn't bad enough, Annisa sheer clumsiness caused her to break the nose of the most popular girl in school. But not even all of these strikes against her can stop Annisa from doing what she loves, and that's becoming a Sand Dune cheerleader. The only thing the squad doesn't know, is that Annisa is out to prove to them that she can cheer just as well as they can, they just don't know it yet.

I adored Kieran Scott's first novel JINGLE BOY - in fact, it's one of my all-time favorite books ever. So I was enthralled to find out about the release of her newest novel I WAS A NON-BLONDE CHEERLEADER. While the storyline is a bit cliched at times, and is very reminiscent of the movie BRING IT ON, it poses it's own set of situations that the main character must overcome, which truly brings the story, and it's characters to life. Annisa is a fun, spirited girl, whose sharp tongue can get the best of anybody, which is a fun thing to see in a teen novel, as many of the books on the teen lit market feature meek girls, who don't always speak up for themselves or what's right. Once again, Kieran Scott has created another fun novel, that will live on in the readers mind for years to come.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Let's give a cheer to Annisa!
Annisa Gobrowski's family has moved so many times that Annisa is use to being the new girl. But nothing prepares the brunette when she arrives at her Florida high school--where ALL the girls are blonde! After a disastrous first day (where she accidentally breaks the nose of the most popular girl at school among other mishaps), Annisa knows she's going to have a hard time fitting in--but that's not going to make her dye her hair. Instead, Annisa plans to try-out for the cheerleading team. Not easy, especially when the team is rigurously practicing for the regional competitions and considering all the girls on the team hate your gut for various reasons. But Annisa is going to show she has more determination than all the blondes combined...

A quirky and relatable novel, this one is a W-I-N-N-E-R!