"Why We Fly": 3 ⭐

(Unpaid Review: thank you to @netgalley, @kimberlyjones, @gillysegal and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review).

I can honestly say I got this book for the black representation. Whenever I find a book with black women on the cover, I'm instantly drawn to it: unfortunately, our society is still very white-washed.

What this book does is giving us a perspective on big issues such as race, athletics and friendship. Mental health too, which is very important.

The characters of the book teach us a very important lesson: never to give up. I really enjoyed reading this book!

A fabulous read full of friendship and the struggles of high school! I am in the middle of reading the physical arc right now and love it! A super cute ya novel!

It took me a while to get into this book, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. I tried a couple of times, and finally read it because it met two challenges I had going at the time. This won’t be a long review, and it’s not going to be a glowing review, but it’s not BAD either. This book was just kind of… grey.

The story is about… well I think it’s about learning about what you’re actyally standing up for? Honestly, this book kind of confused me, tho that might mean that I should read it again, because clearly I didn't get the memo.

This was the blurb:
With a rocky start to senior year, cheerleaders and lifelong best friends Eleanor and Chanel have a lot on their minds. Eleanor is still in physical therapy months after a serious concussion from a failed cheer stunt. Chanel starts making questionable decisions to deal with the mounting pressure of college applications. But they have each other's backs—just as always, until Eleanor's new relationship with star quarterback Three starts a rift between them.
Then, the cheer squad decides to take a knee at the season's first football game, and what seemed like a positive show of solidarity suddenly shines a national spotlight on the team—and becomes the reason for a larger fallout between the girls. As Eleanor and Chanel grapple with the weight of the consequences as well as their own problems, can the girls rely on the friendship they've always shared?

I just didn’t feel like what I got was what was dangled. Yes, much of the plot was dfriven because of the taking a knee, but it wasn’t really explored. The majority of the book felt like it was from the POV of the white teen, and while it created a rift with her Black friends/boyfriend, this wasn’t really explored. It was teetering on the edge of diving in and exploring the HUGE aspect of ally/faux allies, but it never really went there. The conflict between the girls was also hinted at, especially the Cheer Captain role, but then it was kind of like, ok, next, which didn’t feel right from Chanel’s POV, after her first chapter about how she was so organised and focused.

I dunno guys. It just felt… lacking. Great premise, could-have-been great characters, but the plot just wasn’t there, and neither was the character development (at all).

Content warnings: rascism

Overall Rating: 2.5 stars (because of the talk about concussion disabilities mostly)

I loved this book. The first thing that stood out to me was the distinct nature of the two voices and how each girl had a very separate journey. Therefore I'd like to discuss them separately.

For Leni, a white Jewish girl, her arc required her to look back at some of her actions and realize they were tacit acceptances of privilege. Taking the Captaincy without first speaking with Chanel, signing up the squad to kneel without consulting them. All of this spoke to a need for Leni to learn true leadership and by the end of the book she does. The scene with her Rabbi, when she learns that the Synagogue initiative came from asking a partner organization what they actually need rather than bulldozing ahead with what outsiders thought they need, was extremely well done.

Chanel, on the other hand, must learn how to think before she acts. She knows how to lead but she doesn't think about what she is leading herself and the group into until it is too late. The moment when she learns her "perfect" sister is in counseling is representative of the transition to adulthood for so many of us. The sorority weekend shows Chanel learning the finesse of social action and leadership from women who have been in her situation before.

Although I was saddened to see the girls friendship fray and break, I thought this was realistic. The situation they were put in plus the inevitable end of high school, was handled in a true to life manner. There was no fault. Only reality.

There were a few points I wanted to point out in case there is time to add changes :
Chanel/Marisol - this relationship, whether it was a friendship or a budding romance, was one of the highlights of the book. Marisol is witty and supportive and shines as a character. I wanted to see much more of her in the second half of the book.

Leni/Three - Leni clearly did not take Threes position into account, went behind his back to talk to Aunt Rhonda and in general was not on the same page as Three. When she says he is like his father it is a really low blow. He is right to be upset with her. She needed to own up to those things. NONE of that gives him permission to essentially slut shame her in front of the entire student populace the way he did when he told her she wasn't even a distraction for him. Two wrongs do not make a right and that moment felt like pure misogynistic abuse. I never saw this issue addressed and I was therefore shocked when they went to prom together without acknowledging it. She was wrong. So was he. They both needed to own it and neither fully did. At least it didn't feel like they did.

Leni's disability - she has a disability. It is clearly hampering her when she tries to get into college (otherwise why are cheer squads not inviting the Captain of the champion team to audition?) and it is commonly thrown around as a reason she should not have been made Captain. All of this felt very true to life for me. However I would have liked to see Leni just once call someone out on it. She simply accepts when people say her injury means she is not qualified to lead the team. Even if she rebels against it in her heart She never says anything. Therefore a realistic discussion about living with a disability never occurred. It felt like a lost opportunity.

I will be posting a much spiffier version of all of my positive thoughts on my blog closer to release date (I never post the areas for improvement, Those are solely for the authors/publisher to consider as I realize they may heavily change before the book comes out.). I truly loved it, the comments asking for more are simply me trying to be a diligent reviewer. I would read it again and recommend it to anyone!

I think this was a timely, well written book. The characters chose to take a stand, and faced a variety of consequences as a result - they dealt with anger from peers, faculty, and some parents, received help from activists, and learned how to channel their passion for good.

Life-long friends Chanel and Eleanor are determined that their cheer squad will make Nationals this year, their senior year. While Eleanor spends their summer break recovering from a concussion, Chanel is at cheer camp honing her skills.

While attending physical therapy sessions, Eleanor runs into the school’s star quarter-back, Three. Three is bound for greatness, and his parents don’t ever let him forget it. A budding relationship with a cheerleader doesn’t fit into their plans for their son.

As the school year begins, a rift opens between Chanel and Eleanor as Eleanor and Three continue their summer relationship. And things get worse when the cheer team make a last minute decision to take a knee during the national anthem at the first football game of the season and even though Eleanor is team captain, Chanel takes the brunt of the school’s displeasure when she is suspended.

This is a story about friendship, about how friendships change, about ambition and about race.

‘I look down and notice my mother give my dad’s hand a little squeeze. He glances at her, and they lock eyes for a second. I’ve seen that squeeze before. Although my dad wouldn’t hurt a fly, his stature and his tone when he gets excited can seem intimidating to white people. He takes a deep breathe, and when he speaks next, I notice his voice has softened. His proud posture deflates, as it does whenever he is forced to unfairly censor himself in the presence of white people.’

The consequences they start by taking a knee at the football game sees Chanel and Eleanor both start to learn more about social activism and re-evaluate their friendship, and their priorities.

‘Living up to a legacy doesn’t mean celebrating it. It means we pick up the baton and keep running the race.’

‘Why we fly’ is a valuable book for high school libraries and the sports focus of the story will hopefully appeal to readers who may not necessarily be drawn to reading stories that explore issues of race and social justice.


Thanks to NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for the review copy of this book.

Wow! I really loved this book! The writing was smooth and easy to fall into! I loved the dual POV and feel like it gave me such a powerful look into each character and how they experienced the same things in such different ways. The conflict was so REAL and controversial and made me feel for all the characters involved. I could empathize with Leni and had my eyes opened by Chanel who offered a perspective I couldu not have. I also love how everyday high school issues such as college applications, friend drama, crisis of self, stress and self medicating, and so much more was involved along with the major social justice theme.

Spoiler Alert: I have to say I am so glad that the relationships between Leni and Chanel and Leni and Three were not forced back to happily ever. They all grew separately and were heading into the next stage of their lives. Their relationships were left off on a positive note, but I love that the authors chose to acknowledge how it is okay for relationships to change as a young person grows and moves on to life after high school! I know this will be a part of the high school ELA curriculum soon!

Why We Fly has a strong premise and is told from the alternating points of view of two best friends - one black, one white - as they navigate their senior cheerleading season. It's inspired by Colin Kaepernick in that the team kneels during the anthem at one of the football games and we get to see the aftermath of that event. I had high hopes going into this book!

I do think that it will be a hit with high schoolers, potentially those who maybe aren't already big readers. It addresses a very salient topic for today and I felt like the book was a quick read for me.

I think that it was hard to believe that the two main characters were best friends, because you don't get to see a lot of their backstory and they spend a lot of the novel in conflict. It made it harder for me to really believe in the conflict and some of the emotions because their friendship felt detached.

I feel conflicted about my next piece of feedback, so you can take it how you would like! After the team kneels and is dealing with the fallout, there are points of the novel that feel like they are really pivoting away from the event and focusing on the characters in different parts of their lives and completely ignoring the event in some ways. A lot of Leni and Chanel's feelings they discuss are not even related to the kneeling.
I think the good side of this is that it isn't totally centering the event and is showing that activism can happen within the folds of every day life and it doesn't take away all the other feelings you have about other things. On the other side, I felt like the novel became a bit disjointed since it wasn't really centered around one main plot line and it felt like it was a number of sub plots all put together.

Why We Fly by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal started out strong, with an interesting premise and the promise of strong characters but unfortunately it stagnated pretty quickly. There isn't much of a plot to this book, it's just kind of a series of events that happen to two girls who we're told are best friends (though we never actually see this friendship). That wouldn't be unforgivable if the characters were more interesting or even just likeable, but they are not.

I am only not giving this book 1 star because it was able to hold my attention for the entire 270 pages, which says something. However, I spent most of my reading time baffled by the choices these authors made.

Why We Fly revolves around "best friends" Chanel Irons and Eleanor Greenburg, and I put "best friends" in quotes because the book spends a lot of time telling us how close they are but we don't actually see that. The girls spend very little time together, and when they do interact, it's clear that Chanel doesn't actually like Eleanor, and that Eleanor is completely codependent on Chanel. Eleanor's on-again, off-again relationship with the school's football star Three is far more interesting than their friendship. Speaking of Three, I was left wondering throughout the whole book why the POV characters were Eleanor and Chanel instead of Eleanor and Three. He was the only character who was a little bit likeable, or at least whose actions and intentions actually matched up.

The idea for this book is fantastic: a high school cheerleading squad engages in protest by kneeling during the anthem at games, sparking outrage from parents, faculty and peers. However, the execution was so severely lacking. Eleanor, the white MC, railroads all the Black characters who are having mixed, complicated emotions about the whole thing, basically forcing them to participate in a protest she doesn't understand in the least, and then... nothing. She kind of drifts away from Chanel I guess, and breaks up with Three but then gets back together with him for prom and makes awesome new friends without ever actually apologizing so... good for her, I guess?

Meanwhile the other MC Chanel, a Black girl, gets unfairly singled out and suspended for something the whole team participated in and then... her dad fixes everything and the suspension gets wiped from her record and she gets a scholarship because she's so awesome, apparently. So, good for her too I guess. There's also a weird subplot with Chanel smoking weed that seems really out of touch for a book set in present day.

Overall, this book makes a promise it can't deliver and I was hugely disappointed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. The story is told from two perspectives. Eleanor and Chanel are best friends who are on their high schools competitive cheer team. Eleanor is dealing with the aftermath of a serious concussion. Entering their senior year, they both have cheerleading and college goals. I was slightly bothered by each section being labeled with the each girl’s formal name when they both are referred to by nicknames throughout the book. This YA novel is a fresh look at social injustice with a ripped from the headlines feel. I liked how the story used athletes to point out these issues. When the cheerleaders take a knee during the national anthem, it has consequences they couldn’t have expected. These consequences were different for the different main characters. Nelly and Leni’s friendship is altered by the situation. The emotions the girls felt while dealing with the consequences of taking a knee and the affect on their friendship was realistic. Adding some religious aspects to this was a nice extra layer. This was a compelling read. The note from the authors provided great perspective and insight on why they wrote the story.

I absolutely loved Jones book I'm Not Dying with You Tonight!

And after reading Why We Fly didn't disappoint either!
I read this book in two sittings, one day! Its that damn good!
The book isn't long at all..... 272 pages this was a breeze to read.

Told by two characters Eleanor and Chanel who are best friends. And its their last year of high school, and their last year of cheerleading.
The cheer team decides to kneel during the national anthem in support of racial injustice.
And this causes a rift between the two BFs!

The duo authors did an outstanding job on the writing here but also bravo for touching topics on real.life issues! Such as addiction and racism ect...

I was beyond hooked! This book grabbed me from the very first page and I loved it!
An awe-inspiring, brilliant, engaging, exciting Young Adult book!
Every high schooler needs to open this one!

Thank you oh so much NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire and author for this great read!

Will post to my Goodreads and bookstagram account closer to pub date!

Why We Fly explores racism, freedom of expression, and DOING THE WORK through the point of view of best friends Eleanor and Chanel. When they start their senior year, their last year of cheerleading, they want nothing more to win nationals, but the changes in Eleanor and Chanel create a wedge between them. A wedge that becomes a divide. It starts off small - Eleanor starting a relationship with the star quarterback (maybe more of a situationship?), Chanel becoming more reliant on vaping as a stress-relief, Eleanor being voted cheer captain over Chanel - even though Eleanor spent the last year on the sidelines. Tensions rise when the cheer team kneels as a sign of solidarity with an NFL QB & school alum, based on Colin Kaepernick.

Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal are making a name for themselves by teaming up to write Own Voices YA novels that feature both perspectives - black & white - on race relations in our country. I enjoyed their first collaboration, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight, a novel set around the riots in Atlanta, so I was eager to pick up their second joint writing project, Why We Fly, which was inspired by cheerleading squads who have faced repercussions after taking a knee in the wake of Colin Kaepernick’s bold move on the NFL sidelines.

Eleanor and Chanel are childhood best friends, and also cheerleaders on their high school’s squad. Eleanor spent most of her junior year sidelined after suffering a concussion on a basket toss gone wrong, but now she is ready to get back into the game. Chanel, a Type A personality with big plans for her future, is determined to make cheerleading captain, lead her team to a Nationals win, and then get into the top tier school of her choice.

However, senior year isn’t going to go quite as these girls planned. When the squad takes a knee in the name of one their high school’s alums who is making waves in the NFL by kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality against black people, they inspire many, but anger more. Are they prepared to, in this case, kneel for what they believe in and face the repercussions? How will this single act affect their lives going forward?

What I love about Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal’s collaborations is that they take hot button issues that everyone is talking about, and turn them into easy-to-read, relatable novels that teens can pick up and find themselves within. While I’m Not Dying with You Tonight was the more exciting and compelling novel, Why We Fly is a more controversial conversation starter. Is it okay to kneel during our country’s national anthem? Should students face consequences for making a statement? If so, what sort of actions warrant repercussions? These are all questions that will spark the minds and opinions of teens as they read this thought-provoking novel.

On the other hand, as an adult reader, Why We Fly felt under-developed and “safe,” not taking matters far enough. The story and its characters are lacking passion, and while the squad does take a knee, it reads as if they just got caught up in the emotion and momentum of the movement instead of truly understanding and standing behind what it all means. Teenagers are often like that, but when a book is trying to make a statement and inspire young adults to stand up and be heard, Why We Fly’s protagonists fall short.

This left me wanting more from the novel. When addressing hot, topical events carry the story through. I was left with a curious query, why bring up the protest of a former student if you won't do the same with guts.

A powerful story taking a real issue and addresses it in a different way,this time from the point of view of school cheerleaders. A good read with huge potential for more.

Told from alternating points of view, Chanel and Eleanor are high school seniors on the cheerleading team. They're also best friends and have been for years. In the summer leading up to senior year, Eleanor is recovering from a concussion, hoping that she will be back to normal by the time school starts. Chanel is working on her post high school plans.
At the first game of the school year, the cheerleaders decide to take a knee during the national anthem because they know of an NFL player who has been trying to raise awareness by taking a knee at games and that had caused a bit of controversy (and he was a former student of their school, so they feel like they want to support him).
And then, well, the stuff hits the fan, as they say. Administration for the school gets involved and there are consequences. And then the whole subject is dropped. Nothing else really happens in the book after that. I thought the girls would have protests or something, but no.
An okay story, but it had the potential to be HUGE.