Smile: A Graphic Novel

“You’re getting braces, too? It’s not that bad. You can’t chew popcorn…or apples…or carrots. Or gum. Or taffy. Or caramel. Or…”

This exchange in which Jenny rattles off forbidden foods for people with braces is an early example of how Telgemeier depicts dialog and conveys information. Telgemeier uses ellipses to indicate pauses in dialogue as well as when a sentence continues from one panel to another. As Raina listens, she wonders whether there will be any positive benefits, like stopping her nail-biting problem.

“She’s in pain, Amara. If playing Nintendo nonstop makes her forget about her teeth I kinda think we should let her play. She has a lot more pain to look forward to…so try and go easy on her, okay?”

Raina’s mother interprets her early humor as shock and understands the difficult road Raina is about to travel. When Amara complains that Raina refuses to share her videogame, her mother tries to reason with her. Her body language as she kneels with gritted teeth demonstrates how scared the mother is.

“I do look like a baby. But do I really care what anyone else thinks? … Yes.”

Raina is self-conscious about her teeth, but Emily tells her that it is the pigtails that make her look childish. The protagonist spends a restless night in bed feeling like she is giving in to peer pressure. Unfortunately, Raina continues to face criticism from Emily and the others to change her look throughout the story.