Smile by Raina Telgemeier

In a semi-autobiographical graphic novel, Raina Telgemeier tells the story of her ordeal with her teeth (and other growing up stuff). After a girl scout meeting, Raina trips and falls and injures her two front teeth. This results in more orthodontics and dental work than anyone really ever wants to think about. As the orthodontist learns to wrangle her teeth, Raina learns about growing up, making friends, and just being a kid.

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I can't wait to bring this to the fifth graders this year. They're going to eat it up; I just know it. Raina's orthodontic adventure brought all kinds of memories back for me. The summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I had maxillofacial jaw surgery - meaning a jaw surgeon cut off my top jaw and moved it back so I wouldn't have such a horrendous overbite. That plus years of braces, retainers, adjusters, spacers, brackets, and tooth extraction gave me the beautiful smile I have today. I think that's why Smile especially spoke to me; just as I was starting to go through the most awkward period of my life (no pun intended), I had to deal with a bunch of metal and pain in my mouth. Like navigating puberty isn't enough. Telgemeier does an excellent job of showing the awkwardness of first "like," learning when to make new friends and how, all while dealing with goofy looking teeth. The art of Smile is great - very colorful and cartoony which will appeal to younger readers, but not too picture book-esque that it will turn off older readers. Telgemeier did a great job capturing the outfits and style of the 80s and 90s, but without making the book look dated. I definitely think that tween girls will love this book.