Review: Drama by Raina Telgemeier

After enjoying two of the BSC Graphix novels recently, I decided to delve a bit deeper into author/artist Raina Telgemeier's work and discovered this cute little gem. It's all about a middle school drama production--but instead of focusing on the actors, it concentrates on the kids who work behind the scenes, in particular Callie, the set designer who is struggling with her first crush and being bullied by one of the other kids who is working on the play. Fortunately, a pair of twins bombastic Justin and shy Jesse offer Callie not only friendship, but a new outlook as well.

Most of the novel deals with how things go wrong (and occasionally right,) behind the scenes, and the characters as they navigate various crushes and their sexuality. As an adult reader, this probably wasn't the best fit--although I could appreciate the good writing and illustrations, the life lessons that the characters learn along the way are more valuable to readers who are in the target audience. I think sometimes, especially in the past ten years or so, adults have become a lot more keen to read books aimed at Middle Grade or Young Adult readers and we forget that these are meant to be for young people first, and us second. That said, there was a lot to be entertained by and to be enjoyed with this one. Telgemeier's illustrations and insights are, at times, quite brilliant.

Recommended.

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