15. Smile

Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic, 2010).

Genre

Graphic Novel

Review

Smile details Telgemeier's encounters with a variety of dental specialists in late 1980s San Francisco.  The backdrops of middle school and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake provide both literal and metaphorical context for the weight that self-image plays in middle school and early high school.  Raina races friends home one night after a Girl Scout meeting; she falls, knocking out one tooth and impacting another.  The rest of the story deals with the various attempts to replace and correct her teeth.  After having a cast placed on her teeth to keep them in place while they heal, her dentist discovers that the the teeth have fused to the jawbone and aren't properly descended.  This brings about quite a dental ordeal.  Her dentist decides to extract her fused front teeth, temporarily install artificial front teeth, and use braces to bring her remaining teeth into the gap left by her two front teeth.  The book externalizes Raina's feelings of self consciousness by detailing crushes she develops on two different boys at school and by detailing the teasing she endures from her friends.

Opinion

As a victim of orthodontics myself (my dentist told my parents I had an overbite, which was probably not accurate; after 3 years and 4 appliances I asked my parents if I could stop; I never took braces and my teeth are still slightly crooked from all the orthodontia), I walked away from the book with my teeth hurting.  That's meant as high praise!  Telgemeier draws an accurate portrayal of advanced dentistry from the patient's perspective (my sister-in-law, a dentist, was shocked by the procedures they used in the book, perhaps suggesting that practices have changed since Raina and I received our treatments; we would have been receiving our treatments at roughly the same time).  This can help other children to see that they aren't alone in their use of orthodontics.  The book also presents a strong message about selecting your friends.  Raina eventually confronts her friends for their teasing, discards them, and makes new friends.

Ideas

The book details how The Little Mermaid inspired Telgemeier to pursue a career in art.  This book could in turn inspire youth to take up art to tell their own stories.  It could be used in a program on creating graphic novels.  The book would also make a great selection for a tween bookclub; it's a fast read and deals with issues that are universal to tweens.  Used in a middle school setting, the book could reveal that children arent' alone in their use of orthodonture.  Also they may be able to follow Raina's example and surround themselves with friends who accept them for who they are.  For these reasons the book also makes it into my (imaginary) Middle School Survival Kit.