Why a good book is a secret door

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Blog 6- Just a (SMILE) and some words

Blog 6- Just a (SMILE) and some words

I explored a few resources and Diamond Bookshelf, was in my opinion, the most simple and helpful. Although I was initially a little confused by everything on the website I was able to quickly figure it out. It provides various lesson plans by age and even aligns them to the Common Core Standards. They are fairly detailed lesson plans that can be adapted to the teachers needs. I wasn’t able to find a lesson plan for Smile but just by looking through a few of the lesson plans I had enough ideas to work off of. There are also helpful links such as recommended reads, best sellers and new releases.

Smile, by Raina Telgemeier, is an autobiographical graphic novel about her life growing up in San Francisco. The story spans from middle school to high school starting with an accident that knocks out her two front teeth. On top of dealing with painful orthodontic procedures Raina deals with an earthquake, boy troubles, and some not very good friends. This is a coming of age story that hits close to home for most of us. When I first opened the book I was pleasantly surprised that it was all in color. I’m actually not sure why I expected it to be in black and white because it really is an antiquated idea for our point in time. All the elements such as panels, word balloons, sound effects, motion lines, narration, and background colors were found in my book. Although, any of these could be removed and not change the understanding of the story, it would definitely decrease the quality. Like when Raina is running and suddenly trips and WHAM! I flinched and heard the sound of her front teeth making contact with the cement beneath her. Both the images and words are equally important in a graphic novel. I can almost think of graphic novels as a movie on paper. You can see the movement on the paper, hear what is going on and feel the emotions happening. 

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