Smile by Raina Telgemeier

This book is a graphic novel memoir the author wrote and illustrated highlighting her journey through extensive dental work done over several years after an accident where her front teeth were embedded into her upper gums.

While the dental journey is the main theme running through it, we also get other glimpses into the life of Raina from age 12 to age 16.

Raina lives in San Francisco and experiences a large earthquake at the beginning of the story. She also struggles throughout the book with girl friendships. From the start of the book until the end, she is teased significantly for her teeth and other physical attributes. Raina has a difficult time liking her body and her smile because of the comments her friends continued to throw at her. She has crushes on several boys throughout the story, but when her friends make fun of the one because he is a grade younger, she stops being nice to him. She told him she would meet him at the school dance, and she doesn’t show up. When her friends pantsed her in front of the entire school, she finally stands up for herself and decides to find new friends.

Her new friends find joy in her little quirks-the types of shirts she wore, the video games she was interested in. They spend less time worrying about what she looks like. When her braces finally were off, she was surprised to find that her new friends did not criticize her for her teeth still looking different.

The story ends with Raina going to the school dance and having a great time with her new friends.

Smile is an autobiographical graphic novel with an intended audience of 8-12. However, the content appears to be for an older audience. The graphic depictions of blood and dental work could be scary for a young child who has yet to embark on an orthodontic adventure of their own! I want my children to have good experiences with doctors, dentists, and orthodontists. I worry the way these professionals are depicted could cause some worry for younger kids.

There is also an extreme amount of name-calling that occurs between Raina’s friends. They are continuously picking on her for the clothes she wears, her hair, her teeth, and who she has crushes on. The amount of time spent on crushes and boys seems to also be more for an older crowd of readers. The friends even play a game of spin the bottle! This is not a game I’d like my 8-12-year-old to read about. Since this is autobiographical and does not intend to teach, it does not dive into positive friendships, appropriate boy/girl relationships at this age, or how to deal with the big emotions Raina experiences. I worry that a child reading this book independently receives unhealthy information about these relationships without an adult to help navigate.

Sexual Content
Continuous desire to be with cute boys and wanting boys to like her.
Whenever there is a boy Raina likes, the entire graphic is filled with hearts.
Raina daydreams about a boy carrying her with hearts surrounding them
Talking about a boy asking her out on a date
Raina’s friends have boyfriends
Thought bubbles of Raina kissing a boy
On her 13th birthday, Raina’s friends tell her it’s time to kiss a boy, so they give her a makeover. They have her wear a lot of makeup, a tube top, mini skirt, and fishnet stockings
Raina’s mom tells her out of the blue with no discussion that she needs to wear a bra
Talks about puberty. The graphic has pictures of each of Raina’s friends and the physical ways they’re showing they’ve gone through puberty–chest is big is one of the descriptions
Normalizes boys noticing girls going through puberty and shows them reacting to girls with violence-slinging rubber bands at girls they like and shoving them
Raina says she needs to practice flirting. The pictorial representation is Raina shoving a boy hard
Raina and her friends play spin the bottle
When Raina went off to high school, she was excited to meet new boys
Raina’s friends pants her in front of the entire school
Pictures showing boys and girls slow dancing together at a school dance
Using the term “hots for Sean” when describing a crush

Language
Metal mouth, oh my gosh, jerk, name-calling baby for wearing pigtails, talks about puke, calling her vampire girl, brace face, zit face, calling younger kids shrimp, saying what the heck repeatedly, using the word hate throughout the entire story, using the term nerd in a negative context associating with braces,  tone of her friends is always very cruel and condescending, name-calling “dog breath”

Questionable Behaviors
There is a lot of shoving each other when the friends are spending time together
Talks about medications, specifically codeine, and how it makes her feel
Uses slang, like fresh
Plays a lot of video games-notes Wizards and Warriors video game
Discusses the tooth fairy-the mom says she is magical and knows what happens even when she is not there
There is a lot of talk about “normal” bodies, and how if Raina just looked normal, people and boys would like her
Raina mentions prayer when she says her sister prayed during the earthquake. She says that was the only time she’s ever heard her sister pray
References the movie Nightmare on Elm Street

This review is written by Tricia Knutson. To learn more about Tricia, click HERE.

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