Smile- Book Review

The book “Smile” is the first of two books in an autobiographical graphic novel series written by author Raina Telgemeier. You have probably heard of or read this book back in elementary school, but here is a brief description of it.

The main character, Raina is a girl entering sixth grade who just wants to fit in with her classmates and make lots of friends. But one day after girl scouts, she trips and falls, knocking out her front teeth and severely damaging her tooth bone structure. This leaves her anxious and scared about what people will think at school. She is left to face bullies and multiple rounds of braces all throughout middle and high school while trying to comprehend this different experience than what she had hoped for.  

I have always been a person who rarely had any interest in reading books unless they related to me in some way. I chose to read this book mostly because of the colorful comic visual throughout the entire book, also because I know how she felt and what she went through during her experience. 

A message I feel that she gives by using this book is “It will get better.” She shows herself in the start, going into sixth grade scared and afraid of everything around her is something bad. As the book goes on, there are many ups and downs that occur until it reaches the end, where she is past her sophomore year with a large friend group that accepts her and she is very outgoing.

Even though I really enjoyed this book, there were some parts I was a little upset about. Although this book is based on a certain experience, she skips what could have been some major parts in the book. In the middle of the book, she gives a little description of what happened in seventh and eighth grade, leaving me wondering why she chose to cut them out.

I know some could say that it probably seems childish to be writing about a comic book as a senior in high school. But the reason I chose to write about this book is because I can relate to it strongly in a way I feel many others can’t. When I was just about to enter elementary school, I was playing in a little plastic pool with my sister and was sitting at the bottom of the slide when she decided to go down, unintentionally pushing the back of my head and my face hit the bottom of the pool. I was only 4, and had gotten my two front teeth knocked out, which then took two years to grow back. Also, because she is the oldest of three with a younger brother and sister, the youngest being her brother, just like my family.

Now that I have gotten older since I first read this book, I seem to look at it differently. At first, I was reading it from the perspective of a fifth grader, not having experienced enough to understand how the author feels since I didn’t know what my future held. Now, I look at it from my senior perspective, reading about another high schooler’s experience and being able to relate not only to losing my two front teeth, but going through the hardships of being a teenager in high school.