Smile by Raina Telgemeier
(GRAPHIX, 2010, 224 pages)
Smile is the author’s autobiographical story of herself as a 12-year old girl and her experience losing her two front teeth after falling while racing friends outside. It leads to appointments with a dentist, endodontist, and orthodontist and all the angst that results from trying to make her smile normal again. It also explores her relationships with her friends and family, getting her ears pierced, and all the other things that go along with being a pre-teen. The dialogue is clever and the artwork full of bright colors and lots of detail. The book is geared toward 8-12 year olds, but I enjoyed it as someone significantly older than that!