Smile

I finally got the opportunity to dive into my very first graphic novel this weekend. After hearing lots and seeing the interest that kids have in them as a genre, I've been pretty interested in trying them out for a while but hadn't really made the time. A kid in one of my classes read this one last week and loved it; he would bring it to me every day and tell me what was happening and show me all the bloody pictures that he thought were awesome. He had my interest level pretty high, but then when the Book Fair came and I saw it there, I figured it was probably fate and I should get it. Despite the fact that it's about 215 pages long, I managed to read this entire book on Saturday night in about an hour and a half or so (yes, I know that it's a graphic novel written for pre-teens and I am a grown adult, but let me savor this accomplishment). I am officially a fan of graphic novels, and of this one in particular. It's an autobiography, which is pretty cool, and follows the author through her middle school years as she battles the normal issues and turmoils of those ages while also dealing with repeated and prolonged dental surgeries that come as a result of an accident that happens towards the beginning of the book. Middle schoolers should find this book really interesting because A.) it's a graphic novel, and they're pretty much all about them these days, B.) it's got a lot of blood and graphic dental trauma (makes it much more interesting and cool for boys who typically wouldn't choose a story about a girl), and C.) it's a true story that describes someone's real life struggles and issues and horrors that came with being in middle school. There's something very comforting about reading about other people discovering that their friends are cruel and switching crushes from day to day and realizing their crush doesn't know they exist and dealing with the trauma of awkward phases that inevitably happen in middle school. All of that is extremely relevant to kids this age, and this book provides a realistic and comforting view of all of it. I highly recommend this one.