Smile: A Graphic Novel

by Raina Telgemeier

Raina Telgemeier (Illustrator)

Raina just wanted to be a normal girl, but one night after Girl Scouts
she trips and falls severely injuring her two front teeth.
What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again
braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear and even a retainer
with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still
more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion and friends
who turn out to not be so friendly.

• ISBN10: 0545132053
• ISBN13: 9780545132053
• Publish Date: 1 February 2010
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic US
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

Cute & funny. Love the art.

Checked it out from the library for my daughter. She's read it before, but recently got braces & had a bit of a set back with teeth not coming down. So she' had to get surgery & chains put in and the only thing they say is "when the teeth comes down." It sucks being in limbo so I thought this funny, way worse scenario would help her out. It did & I got to read it for myself finally as well.

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: Who knew a book about teeth could make you feel so connected to the main character! Based on her own life, Raina did a wondrous job with her graphic novel, showing the ups and (mostly perceivable) downs of fixing teeth. I wore braces for 3.5 years, had a retainer with a fake tooth attached to fill the gap for an adult tooth that nature didn't grant me with and now struggle with a semi-permanent bridge that will eventually give way to an implant. Going through these things made me laugh all the harder at the pain and embarrassment Raina (the MC, though author too) dealt with physically as well as mentally in her day-to-day life.

[lisacee]

A great book. Very relatable, even for someone who had braces in her 30s.

[Stephanie]

This was my first graphic novel, and I loved it! This was so fun to read, I flew through it. I would say I really enjoyed it mostly because I went through the same retainer/headset/braces timeline as her and could definitely relate. Makes me wish I had this book when I was in 8th grade!

[inlibrisveritas]

Hullo awkward years…I just want you to know I don’t miss you, even if I did willing read and enjoy a book about you.

Smile is a graphic novel about those really awkward years that take place in middle school and the beginning of high school. We’ve all been there…unless you haven’t, in which case you’re weird and lucky. Smile takes place in the 90s, which is awesome because it resembled most of my childhood and awkward years perfectly. You get the whole package here: the braces, retainers, acne, boys who are friends, boys you wish would be your ‘friend’, fake friends, and siblings that drive you crazy.

Smile takes those awful moments and turns it into something almost nostalgic. You get to see Raina grow up, learn to like herself and free herself from friends who don’t deserve her attention.I could totally relate to pretty much everything, including the stupid retainers and having braces…twice…I really wish this had been around when I was still that age because I would have given anything to know that I wasn’t the only one having a tough go of it.

It’s definitely a great little book that is really entertaining and highly relatable.