Squad Goals

Energetic seventh-grader Magic Poindexter wants nothing more than to join the cheerleading squad for the Valentine Middle School Honeybees. After all, cheerleading runs deep in her family’s blood, and Magic wants to continue her family’s legacy, especially since her Grammy Mae was the first Black cheerleader on the Honeybees squad.  

But Magic is different. She isn’t coordinated, has zero athletic ability, and she struggles to stay on beat. Her only chance lies with Planet Pom-Poms, the summer cheer camp where she’ll audition for a spot on the cheerleading squad. However, cheer camp brings more than strenuous practice routines, and Magic struggles to balance the interweaving plotlines of summer romances, friendship trouble, and mean bullies. Can Magic survive Planet Pom-Poms and earn herself a spot on the Valentine Middle School Honeybees? 

From the start, Magic’s bubbly, quirky personality enriches the story’s plot and surrounding characters. Readers will enjoy experiencing Planet Pom-Poms through Magic’s point of view, and her mixture of excitement and anxiety for the cheerleading audition makes her a very relatable character. Yet, Magic’s strength lies in her positive view of herself and others. Despite what others say about her, Magic remains upbeat and optimistic which is why she becomes an admirable figure for both the readers and the other characters. 

Magic is a dynamic character, who shows personal growth; at first, she fears her lack of cheerleading talent but she learns to love herself. This change highlights the book’s message of loving and believing in yourself. This message extends past Magic to her friends, who find beauty in their differences. Magic exemplifies this by saying, “With all of our differences . . . we’re like a cool bag of Skittles. Each of us has our own unique flavor. Without one of us, the rest of the bag would be boring.” While Squad Goals primarily focuses on Magic’s development, the book also includes plenty of cheerleading action. Readers can expect many action sequences with in-depth descriptions of real cheerleading moves. 

Overall, Squad Goals is a heartfelt story about a young girl learning to love herself and her differences. The combination of fast cheerleading scenes with slower introspection scenes mix well and provide an authentic experience for the characters to learn and grow from. The book pleasantly wraps up the different plotlines and leaves the readers with a satisfying conclusion. Although the characters may act overly cheesy, the book explodes with enough charm that it will elicit a smile from all readers who love positivity and cheerleading. Readers who want more cheerleading action should also read The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat. 

Sexual Content 

• When Magic talks to her crush, Dallas Chase, Dallas’ “cheeks turn red when he smiles this time.” 
• Whenever Magic thinks about Dallas, it “makes her heart turn into a drum major and beat against my chest. Then my hands get sweaty and I don’t want to touch anything.” 
• When Magic talks about Dallas, she “swipe[s] at my brows and try to shake off the red. But when I glance in the mirror, my entire face is still flushed. I shake my head. Now it’s even redder. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it . . . even though I can’t deny that he makes me feel like a hot cup of cocoa topped with squishy marshmallows, all caramel excitement and chocolate nerves.” 
• Magic’s and Dallas’ eyes lock, and Magic loses “all focus, my mouth opening and closing like a fish as I try to figure out what to say.” 
• Magic watches Dallas and Gia, the captain of the cheerleading squad, interact from afar, and she “can feel [her] legs turning to limp taffy” out of fear and disgust. This scene is described over three pages. 
• Magic sees Dallas in a crowd and her “palms go sticky and I start losing my grip on my pom-poms.” 
• Dallas meets up with Magic outside her cabin. Magic explains, “he looks up at me and a powerful surge of mushy feelings rushes through my nervous system, making me . . . nervous. They start in my toes and sizzle up to the ends of my big, long braids.” 
• Magic and Dallas hold hands as they walk. “We turn to head back to the dorm, hand in hand, and I’m so content that I don’t even bother to count the Mississippis.” 
• When Dallas invites Magic to a birthday party, she “can’t hold back the mega-blush that’s turning my face a solid Crayola red.” 

Violence 

• Magic falls off the steps of the bus, and “an obnoxiously loud thud echoes behind my fall and everyone turns to look right at me and my face, which is now buried in the dirt.” Magic hurts her arm and has to go to the nurse’s station later on. 
• Magic’s friend, Brooklyn, explains that the cheerleader captains “will be covered in that chalky calamine lotion” after she spreads poison ivy on Gia and Yves’ pillows. 
• Gia and Yves, the two cheerleading captains, sabotage Magic’s introduction video during the Midsummer performances. They switch out Magic’s original video with a video of her professing her love for Dallas Chase for the entire audience to see: “The audio skips. I try to keep dancing to my background music, mainly because Coach force-fed us that the show must always go on, even if disaster strikes. The audio skips again. ‘—and I’m in love with Dallas Chase. And I’m in love with Dallas Chase. I’m—I’m—I’m in love with Dallas Chase.’” This scene is described over three pages. 
• Gia and Yves sabotage Magic and her friends’ performance at the Finale by dropping a bucket of water on Magic’s friends during their performance. Magic decides to “cut the string” to save her friends’ performance, “but the bucket is still teetering back and forth, and while I’m looking up at the rafter, watching the bucket with my mouth wide open, I feel a few droplets just before the entire bucket of water splatters right over my head. And I’m soaked.” Magic sacrifices herself to allow her friends to finish their performance. This scene is described over three pages. 
• Magic and her friends cover Gia and Yves bedsheets with poison ivy in revenge for the Midsummer disaster: “’I’ll do the honors,’ I say to Winnie, taking the tissue with the poison ivy in it from her. I lean over the other bed and follow Winnie’s fingertip as it guides me across and then down the pillowcase.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

• Magic mentions that her grandfather “takes medication” when his “heart is beating dangerously fast.” 
• Magic’s mom mentions that “children’s Motrin will help” with Magic’s throbbing head. 

Language 

• Magic exclaims “ohmahgawd” multiple times. 
• Two cheerleaders regularly call Magic, “Tragic Magic.” They also call another cheerleader, Capricorn, “Kettle Corn.”  
• Magic’s friend, Lulu, screams “ohmygosh” once. 
• Magic repeatedly exclaims “fan-fricking-tastic.”   
• A mean cheerleader taunts Capricorn by telling her that she “sucks.” 
• A mean cheerleader tells Magic that “she looks like a raccoon.” 

Supernatural 

• When Magic holds her Grammy Mae’s pom-poms before the Finale, she sees Grammy Mae encouraging her. “It’s Grammy Mae’s voice, and I’m not sure if I’m imagining it, because it feels so real. And when I open my eyes, I can see her, smiling sweetly, even though I know she’s not there.” 
• Grammy Mae’s initials on her pom-poms change to Magic’s initials at the end of the story. “And when I do, Grammy’s initials aren’t there anymore. Instead, that same golden glow is swirling around the initials MOP.” 

Spiritual Content 

• Magic’s big sister, Fortune, compliments Magic by saying, “God was having a good day when he made [you].”