Middle Grade Monday: Smile, by Raina Telgemeier

 

Title: Smile

Author: Raina Telgemeier

Publication Info: Scholastic, 2010. 224 pages, graphic novel

Source: Library digital resources

Publisher’s Blurb:
Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there’s still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly. This coming-of-age true story is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been in middle school, and especially those who have ever had a bit of their own dental drama.

My Review:
I didn't get my braces until I was in my late 30s and my second son was a baby, so I didn't exactly relate to some of the issues Raina faced (though I do remember some non-trivial pain, and I didn't have any traumatic injuries to my teeth!). But as always, the underlying issue of the middle-school struggle to find your place and your friends resonates. In fact, that is the real meat of this book. 

 

Yes, it's good for kids to read it and see that braces (or whatever makes them different) aren't the end of the world. But for me the best moment in the book is when, as a high school freshman, she finally lets the rather toxic batch of friends (or "friends") she's been with since grade school know what she thinks of the torment they dish out and excuse as "fun." I could only wish she'd done it sooner, but who among us has managed that?

Smile is the first of three graphic novels Telgemeier wrote about her own growing-up years. I have read all three (the others are Sisters and Guts), though I don't appear to have reviewed the others. I can recommend the whole series as good books for anyone struggling with being a "tween"--or who remembers the pain of that age!

My Recommendation:
As noted, I recommend this book and this series, maybe especially for girls, since the issues Raina deals with are many of them (no surprise) particular to girls. But I'll bet the worry over appearance, bullying, and struggles to find a place to fit in are not gender-specific, and it wouldn't hurt the boys to read this, too.

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed an electronic copy of Smile from my library, and received nothing from the author or the publisher in exchange for my honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

 

YA Graphic Novel: Tomboy

Title: Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir
Author: Liz Prince
Publisher: Zest Books, 2014. 255 pages
Source: Library

Summary: 
This graphic novel explains what it was like for Liz Prince growing up "in the middle"--not a pink sort of girl, but not "one of the guys" either. It wasn't easy even in grade school, but the book really focuses on the struggles that hit in Junior High and High School.


My Review: 
I plucked this book from the cart while I was shelving at the library, because the title caught my eye, me being an unreformed tomboy and all. I'm glad I did. It was a fascinating look at gender roles and expectations in our society.

Liz Prince is about 20 years younger than I am, so I expected that our experiences would be different (I was/am also a little different sort of tomboy than she was, because hey, we are all unique!). What I didn't expect was to find that she had a harder time than I did. And I don't think that's just because I was okay with occasionally putting on a dress for a special occasion. I think it's because we were more open to girls and women being themselves in the 60s and 70s than we were in the 80s and 90s--and what about now?

Liz seems to have taken a lot of grief from gradeschool on up for "dressing like a boy." Now, I admit that I don't know what that would have been like, because I was a 1st grader in a time and place when it simply wasn't done. I wore a skirt to school (and changed to jeans the second I got home), until about 2nd grade, when we moved to a place where pants were acceptable (and Dad wasn't the minister anymore, so no one was looking so closely at me). I went ahead and "acted like a boy" regardless, as did most of my friends; we skinned a lot of bare knees. Liz seems to have been surrounded by girls who got very girly from a very young age.

In high school, where she was shunned for wearing (boy's) jeans and no makeup, I finally was free to dress as I pleased, and wore jeans and tee shirts and didn't even own a skirt for years. (Note: I still wear jeans and Tees and no makeup, and I haven't worn a skirt in years). Maybe it was different then because we were all rebelling against a very different generation? In any case, one thing that never seemed to come up were the accusations of lesbianism. Prince faced those just for hanging out with a friend who also dressed like a boy. My classmates might not have known the word.

The weird thing is, I think it was easier to be a tomboy in my generation because people were less aware of all the gender options. For Prince, being a tomboy seemed to require questioning her sexuality, even at a young age. For me and my friends, we just wanted to be boys because they had all the good adventures (in the books we read). And we wanted to wear jeans because they were more suited to running around and climbing trees (plus: pockets). We wore boys' clothes (literally in my case: I wore my brothers' hand-me-downs) and played boys' games, but we didn't try to look like boys. Most of us wore our hair long (because our mothers all cut and curled theirs?).

I've wandered from the review here, but there is method to my madness. The book made me think about gender roles and being a tomboy and how kids (and society) treat other kids who don't conform. And that, I think, is a large part of the point (as well as letting girls who maybe don't fit the standard model know that they are not alone, and that it's okay--and maybe even that not liking skirts doesn't mean you aren't heterosexual?). That is what made this a really good book.

Recommendation:
I recommend this book for everyone who has ever struggled against gender roles, or thought about it, or teased someone who didn't fit the mold, or thought about teasing...you get the picture. I think it's kind of an important book for our teens, and probably for the rest of us, to read. It only took me an hour or two--well worth the time!


Full Disclosure: I checked Tomboy out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher in exchange for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."