Liz Arevalo The Power of Graphic Novels Am I Right?

Graphic novels were never my thing growing up, in fact if it was not for this class I would have never picked one up and actually sat down to attempt to read one; but Smile was so good! Smile is about Raina and her personal take and first hand experience with her many visits to all sorts of dental physicians. Raina suffers an accident where she severely damages her teeth. During her visits to the several dentists she goes to for years, her teeth improve but so does her self esteem and her group of friends. Raina becomes a new girl. She’s now a teenager with a new group of friends who is starting to get into guys oh and did I mention she has a perfect smile?

With the resource guide I discovered a lot of general knowledge about graphic novels that I did not know of. It answers questions that I had always wondered, insights to different type of styled readers like the ‘reluctant reader’ which I think is great. Parents as well as teachers can a learn a lot about this genre. With all prejudice aside and putting the reader first! Which I believe is crucial. If the reader enjoys it, that should be what matters. 

D. One of many examples in my book where you can see Raina’s character trait through her expressions and movement is when she is a bit shy while she attempts to talk to the cute guy in her band class. Raina is quite shy, it is also seen in different situations where her so called ‘friends’ make fun of her and she kind of just takes it. At the beginning of the story, Raina just takes a submissive trait which you can see with her body language and facial expressions and towards the end of the story she realizes how wrong she is being treated. She develops an inner strength and she finds real friends in which through the drawings you can tell she us genuinely more comfortable and happy. It’s crazy to think you can figure this out just by looking at drawings.