Smile

Book 1 of smile series

Raina Telgemeier

2009

          Raina is a regular pre-teen with regular boy troubles. However, her life changes when she falls on her face and knocks out her two front teeth. She’s forced to get multiple painful surgeries and braces to fix her teeth. The story follows through almost five years of that awful experience. During that time, she will have to deal with an earthquake and friends that aren’t so friendly; Following along her path of self-discovery. She eventually finds the courage to smile and stand up to her not so funny friends.

          This is not my first book of this author and her characters are so relatable. It shows a realistic style of growing up with a bit of humour and beautiful illustrations. I can’t get enough of these illustrations; the colours and the movement are beautiful, and help brings her story to life. Her characters are complex, interesting and deal with regular life problems.

          The message of self-discovery and ultimately self-esteem that the story tells is deep. It shows that yes it takes a lot to accept yourself, but ultimately you must put aside what others think of you and allow yourself to do things you like and ultimately BE YOU. People that appreciate you for who you are will stick around and new ones will come into your life. It took me a long time, and I am still struggling with this, to allow myself to do what I like, to be who I want to be. To embrace myself in all my quirky beauty! Also, to learn to laugh at yourself and have fun! We only have one life after all! Raina Telgemeier depicts all of this in a beautiful and fun comic book. I am happy to share that this is the first book of the series and I can’t wait to read the next one. 

Available on overdrive https://elnb-bnnb.overdrive.com/media/EE9B3664-CE2D-4356-A856-31E374E63B65

Or on our catalogue https://nbpl.ent.sirsidynix.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu=Telgemeier%2C+Raina.&te=ILS&rt=false%7C%7C%7CAUTHOR%7C%7C%7CAuthor