Drama

Comics and graphic novels

First published: 2012
Print length: 240 pagesGraphix, an imprint of Scholastic, 2012

Description

Seventh grader Callie loves theater, but not performing: her place is backstage, building the world that appears under the lights. As Eucalyptus Middle School prepares its spring musical, Moon Over Mississippi, she takes on an ambitious set design that demands ingenuity, teamwork, and persistence from a crew with limited resources. Offstage, Callie’s certainty disappears amid crushes, rejection, and her growing feelings for Jesse. She also welcomes Justin into the production and supports him when he confides that he is gay. This graphic novel treats school theater as both a creative challenge and a community, tracing the confusion of early romance alongside the practical pleasures of collaboration, inclusion, and making a show work.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Hopeful · Intimate · Playful · Warm

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · Relationships

Emotional intensity

2 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 1 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 1 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

Art and creativityBelongingComing of ageCommunityFriendshipLove

About Raina Telgemeier

Raina Telgemeier is an American cartoonist whose memoirs, fiction, and adaptations have helped establish a broad readership for middle-grade comics. Her direct, dialogue-driven storytelling focuses on how physical vulnerability, embarrassment, friendship, and family life shape adolescence. In the autobiographical Smile and Guts, dental trauma and persistent stomach problems are inseparable from social pressure and changing relationships. Her fiction carries that attention into other settings, including the school theater community of Drama and the family story at the center of Ghosts. Telgemeier developed her practice through the discipline of publishing a weekly webcomic, a schedule that helped her shape Smile. Her four adaptations of Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club stories provided the financial support that allowed her to leave her full-time job and concentrate on her art.

Books by Raina Telgemeier

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic
Language: English
ISBN: 9780545326988

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