"Smile" Made Us Smile

Not long ago, Jedi Teen and I were looking for some summer reading recommendations. One of our go-to sites for summer reading is Sonlight, which is where we learned about Raina Telgemeier's graphic novel Smile. Published in 2010, it tells the story of Raina's real life dental drama back in the 1980's and early 90s, a drama that began when she fell (as an eleven year old) and knocked out her two front teeth. She ended up having braces and all other kinds of dental work over the next few years, so the story goes into her high school years.

So what did we think of Smile?

Obi Mom: I was handed Smile by Jedi Teen, who had already read it three times by the time she passed it off. I think that's a pretty strong endorsement! Although I have only read a handful of graphic novels before, I do enjoy the story-telling technique, and Raina Telgemeier's illustrations were terrific.

It's been a long time since I've had my own dental dramas, but oh my goodness, did this book bring the experiences of braces back to me....vividly! I never actually had the kind of drama Raina did -- no falls or knocked out teeth. I simply had an overbite that took a long time to correct. Raina's well-told experiences brought back all the feelings of brace tightening, head-gear wearing, rubber-band snapping, food stuck in wires...I hadn't thought about some of these things in years!

Jedi Teen: The reason I read this book three times was because I had a bad cold and I felt miserable and didn't want to read anything too challenging. I really enjoyed the book. The first time I read it I was in the car running errands. Later that evening, I was feeling really bad and I didn't feel like doing anything but lying there and reading and I wanted to read Smile again! The next day I was still feeling bad, so I stayed home from church and watched Frozen. When the movie was finished, I got out Smile and started again! By the time my parents came home, I was already well into the story. I finished it again that afternoon.

I also liked Raina's artwork. She is good at drawing backgrounds and putting details into her drawing. She grew up in San Francisco and survived the earthquake in 1989 when she was in 7th grade. She went to school with some other girls who turned out to not be very nice in the end. They called her a "vampire" because her teeth were pushed up (when they were trying to fix them at first). At the end of the book, Raina made new friends.

After a while, the orthodontist decided to take out her front teeth, which were pushed up, and use a full set of braces to try to bring the other teeth into the middle. At the end of her treatment, they added stuff to Raina's new front teeth to make them look normal. In the picture in the back of the book, Raina looks perfectly normal!

Obi Mom: I think a lot of us can remember feeling like we didn't fit in for some reason when we were Raina's age. In her case, a lot of that had to do with her teeth, but I think the adult author (looking back on her middle school and high school years) captures a lot of the feelings that all kids have at that stage. Raina sometimes feels awkward and like she's either growing too fast or too slowly. It's good for me, as the mom of Jedi Teen, to remember that season of life and how hard it can feel sometimes!

Jedi Teen: I really connected with Raina's characters, and even though I don't have braces, I can understand how painful that can be! I remember having a lot of cavities when I was little, and even though I have gotten better about it recently, I never like to go to the dentist. I guess most of us don't!

Raina told her story with a lot of humor, and Smile made me laugh....and smile!