Graphic Novel Review

Title: Smile

Author: Raina Telgemeier

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Year: 2010

ISBN: 978-0-545-24182-3

Format: Print; Paperback, 214 pages

Summary:
Smile is a memoir about a young girl's coming-of-age experiences. It recounts the author's struggles with braces, boys, and tumultuous friendships. Young Raina journeys from middle school to high school and learns life lessons (often hysterical ones) along the way. Lots of drama and even an earthquake help make this story interesting, powerful, and memorable.

Audience:
This book is perfect for students grades 5-8, or ages 10-14. The experiences of Raina certainly speak to middle grade adolescents struggling to find identity and self-acceptance. Scholastic, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and School Library Journal all list the target audience of this novel as middle grades.

Strengths:
Smile succeeds in many ways:

• Interesting and funny illustrations that perfectly match the text to add meaning and emotion
• Humor to deal with difficult situations, but not too silly or over-the-top
• Wonderful theme of empowerment and overcoming obstacles (Great scene near the end where Raina stands up to the bullies and decides to make new friends)
• Captures the angst, longing, and frustration felt by so many adolescents and teenagers as they grow up: the paradox of wanting to be noticed and wanting to fit in at the same time
• Personal and vulnerable story about embarrassment and dealing with common issues like braces
• Terrific ending that concludes with Raina finding herself and accepting herself rather than simply acquiring a boyfriend or popularity...loved the message about throwing yourself into your own passions to find meaning and purpose!

Weaknesses:
Smile does not have that many weak areas. The only areas where I have criticisms concern:

• Girl-centered: While I think this is great and a central part of the story, it does possibly limit the potential range of audience. I am not sure if boys will enjoy it as much.
• The novel never says what happened to the "Tiny-Tot" sixth grade boy that had a crush on Raina.

Programming Connections:
Smile would be a great book to use when discussing bullying, self-acceptance, and other issues related to peer-pressure and dealing with society's expectations. This book would also work well with reluctant readers since it is in graphic format. I would love to read this book with a group of middle school girls and then talk about the pressures they face and how they deal with them.

Read-alikes:
Smile is similar to the following titles:

• Sisters (also by Telgemeier)
• Awkward (Chmakova)
• Drama (also by Telgemeier)

Awards:
Smile has received the following honors:

• NYT Bestseller
• Eisner Award
• Goodreads Choice Award for Best Middle Grade & Children's Title
•  Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for Nonfiction
• YALSA Top Ten Graphic Novels
• Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award
• Amazon Bestseller distinction
• Excellent reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publisher's Weekly

Overall Rating:
I thought this book was absolutely terrific! I would encourage all my middle-aged students to read it, especially girls. The graphic format added meaning and nuance. The facial expressions of the characters and the embarrassing situations combined for powerful images and made me think back to my awkward years. I think the story worked exceptionally well as a graphic novel. I would give it 4.5 out of 5 starts.