BOOK REVIEW ~ SMILE BY RAINA TELGEMEIR

~ by Vibisha

written and illustrated by Raina Telgeimer, published by Scholastic

“Weird...something happens when you smile at people. They smile back”― Raina Telgemeier, Smile

Smile is a wonderful story written by award~winning author Raina Telgemeier who received many awards, the recent one is the Eisner Award for best writer. The graphic novel that takes us through the feelings and changes that we go through when moving from middle school to high school. Smile is based on Raina Telgemeier's real-life experiences with boys, dental drama, family, friends and Earthquakes (yes earthquakes!)

Raina just wants to be a normal teenager but on the night on returning from girl scouts she trips and injures her 2 front teeth causing a long journey of on and off braces, headgear and retainers with fake teeth, and between all this Drama Raina is struggling with her not so friendly friends boy trouble and an earthquake in her city! Will Raina be able to clear out the confusion in her feelings and stand up to her friends?

This novel taught me about standing up for myself and being proud of who I am. I was able to relate to Raina as she was the same age as me. The book was filled with colourful illustrations and fun characters, I couldn’t stop reading!

If I could change something in this book, I would have added a little bit more about Raina’s new friends at the end. Other than that I enjoyed reading this novel and would rate it 4.5 stars out of 5.

This novel is a must-read for teenagers(12+ ) who may be facing the same issues with its entertaining graphics and fun storyline, It keeps you on the edge and keeps you turning the pages. I enjoyed reading this book! And would continue to read the series by Raina Telgemeier.