Destinee Garcia: Blog 6 (Graphic Novels)

From exploring the Diamond Bookshelf website I was excited to see all the lesson plans available to use with graphic novels and the how updated the content is. Something to admire is how the lesson plans provide you with a summary to alter the lesson to other age ranges.

C. “Smile” is a graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier. The story follows Raina’s life though junior high to high school with an orthodontic journey, boy drama and changing friendships. This book was an easy book to be devoured in because as Raina, I currently have braces and can relate so much to all the orthodontic work.

When reading a graphic novel it is easy to read it with looking at the words, looking at the photos or both. For myself I found myself reading the words and racing through each page without taking an in-depth look at the illustrations. I caught myself missing the bigger picture by doing this. Below is a good example of words telling the story and the illustrations as well.

You can easily read the words and make a conclusion of the cause and effect of Raina experiencing the discomfort. When you just see the illustrations you are letting your eyes and mind create your conclusions. From this I would conclude the physical touch of her newly tightened braces provides an excruciating pain with just the slightest touch.