Smile by Raina Telgemeier

★★★★½

This book has a lot of the same themes as Roller Girl, which I know was published after Smile, but which I happened to read first.

Raina is a middle schooler who struggles with all the expected challenges of puberty - frenemies, boys, acne, etc. Unfortunately, she also has a freak accident in which her top two front teeth are knocked out!! Aagh!! The poor girl has to endure frequent and painful orthodontist visits and a series of uncomfortable dental procedures and equipment.

There are so many things that I like about this book! Raina is, understandably, unhappy about her dental situation, but she is not distraught and does not wallow in self-pity. She kind of just keeps picking herself up and going back to school. She is as insecure as any other middle schooler, yet she makes good decisions; if she's uncomfortable in a situation, she'll do what's best for her, and won't just follow the crowd.

I often feel that there is too much emphasis these days on people having BFFs, so I really liked the fact that Raina does not seem to have one "best friend". She has a group of friends with whom she feels comfortable hanging out.

One of the great life lessons of this book is finding out who your friends really are, and what it means to be a friend to somebody. For much of this book, I was a little underwhelmed with Raina's friendships, and I worried that these relationships were being portrayed as "typical friendships" for middle schoolers. Thankfully, by the end of the book, Raina made some pretty keen realizations, and I LOVED that she entered high school with an attitude of excitement and optimism about meeting new people and making new friends. I liked especially that the transition happened without any ill-will towards her old friends.

One small note about the cast of characters. Even though the main character and her family are Caucasian, I appreciate that other races made appearances in the book, including an African-American boy on whom Raina develops a crush. The book's diversity factor appears mainly as details in the illustrations, but it's still meaningful to see multiculturalism depicted in a normalized way.

This book would be a great selection for any upper elementary or middle school reader who is in the midst of or on the cusp of hitting puberty. There's a sense of, "Well, if Raina can get through that, then I can get through whatever is going on in my own life, too!"