- Graphic Novels
- Ages 8–12
- Contemporary
Smile
Book 1 of 3 in Smile TrilogyView the full series
Part of the Raina Telgemeier universeOpen the collection
A landmark middle-grade graphic memoir about dental trauma, friendship pressure and finding confidence in your own face. It is one of the strongest gateway books for realistic graphic novels and reluctant readers.
- Best for8–12
- FormatGraphic
- Length224 pp
- Read aloud~1 hr45 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Warm
- Heartwarming
- Bittersweet
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Raina just wants to be a normal sixth-grader, but one accident changes everything: after tripping and badly injuring her two front teeth, she begins years of dental work, braces, surgery, headgear and awkward school moments. Around the same time, friendships shift, crushes become complicated, and growing up starts to feel painfully visible. Smile works because it turns a very specific autobiographical experience into something almost every child can recognise: the fear of standing out, the misery of being teased, and the slow discovery that confidence does not come from looking perfect. Raina Telgemeier's bright, expressive cartooning makes the story accessible and funny even when the emotional material is uncomfortable. It is a hugely important modern children's graphic novel: readable, empathetic, personal and still one of the best starting points for children moving from funny comics into more emotionally realistic stories.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 8–12
- Read aloud · 8–11
- Independent · 8–12
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: body image, bullying, illness or disability.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
2 / 5 · Mild
Best for
- Realistic graphic novel
- Graphic memoir
- Raina entry point
- Middle school feelings
- Reluctant readers
Avoid if
- Sensitive to dental injury
- Sensitive to bullying
- Wants fantasy adventure
Particularly good for children who are…
- Reluctant reader
- Low self esteem
- Struggling with reading
- Being bullied
- Anxiety and worry
- Moving to secondary school
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Raina Telgemeier's hugely popular graphic memoirs — a reluctant-reader phenomenon that also opens honest talk about anxiety, growing up and family.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific recognition is having one specific thing about your face you can't stop being self-conscious about — braces, an accident, anything visible. Raina draws the years of dental work and the awkward middle-school feelings around it so honestly that any kid who's ever felt like they look wrong feels less alone.
- Being special or chosen
- Friendship and belonging
- Proving yourself
- Transformation
Why parents love it
The book to hand a child who's started caring how they look — braces, glasses, anything making them feel different. Telgemeier's autobiography is funny enough to make the embarrassment safe to read about, and reassuring enough to make confidence feel possible. The graphic novel that opened a whole genre for nine-to-twelve-year-olds.
- Nostalgia
- Conversation starter
- Quick to read
- Great writing
In the series
Smile Trilogy.
3 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Raina Telgemeier.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Where you’ll find it
On these reading lists.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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