PDF Summary:Smile, by Raina Telgemeier

Think back to middle school: the mounds of homework, the excitement of crushes, and the changes of puberty. Imagine that on top of all of this, a face-first tumble onto the pavement has lodged your two front teeth higher into your mouth and you’ll need years of dental work to correct it. This is what happened to comic artist Raina Telgemeier, who recounts her middle school years in her autobiographical graphic novel, Smile. Through her exploration of adolescence, self-consciousness, and the horrors of dental work, Telgemeier sends an uplifting message: that you can achieve confidence by focusing less on your appearance and more on your interests.

In this guide, we’ll take you through Telgemeier’s middle school years and dental struggles. In our commentary, we’ll connect the book’s themes to research on adolescence. Furthermore, we’ll offer strategies for applying the book’s themes to your everyday life, whether you’re a parent of an adolescent, someone who works with adolescents, or an adult seeking to reflect on your own relationship with your appearance.

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Encourage them to improve their appearance in positive or harmless ways. Trying out different styles of clothing and using facewash that reduces acne won’t harm them. However, if you notice the teen engaging in unhealthy behaviors, such as excessive dieting to lose weight, it could be a sign they have an eating disorder and need professional help.

Encourage them to appreciate their other strengths. Reminding them that they’re valuable in other ways beyond appearance prevents them from relying on their looks for their sense of self-worth. For instance, you can praise them for their commitment to their hobbies, their inspiring goals, and the nurturing relationships they have with their friends.

Part 2: 7th Grade

Raina’s Teeth Increase Her Self-Consciousness

In the first half of seventh grade, Raina’s teeth contribute to her feelings of self-consciousness. Her dentist shares the bad news that Raina’s braces are failing to pull her two front teeth down—therefore, she’ll need a different treatment that will require her to visit the dentist more frequently and get braces again. Raina spends weeks worrying about this new treatment and how “nerdy” she’ll look with braces. Her constant worrying makes it hard for her to pay attention at school.

(Shortform note: Raina’s weeks spent worrying about her teeth and how they’ll affect her appearance is an example of situational anxiety: a common type of anxiety that arises when you’re facing a specific, temporary challenge. Although Raina doesn’t seek treatment for her situational anxiety, experts claim that treatment can help. If your situational anxiety is serious, professionals may recommend anti-anxiety medication as a treatment. If your anxiety is less serious, they may recommend you try certain coping mechanisms, such as engaging in deep breathing, increasing your exposure to your fears to develop strategies for confronting them, and challenging your pessimistic thoughts with optimistic thinking.)

Raina’s Friends Tease Her

After Raina begins her new dental treatment in the second half of the year, her friends tease her about her appearance. On one occasion, she expresses to her friends that her braces make her look like a nerd—and her friends reply that she is a nerd and has always looked like one. Raina storms away, upset, and her friends remark that she can’t take a joke.

This teasing continues at Raina’s birthday sleepover. This time, her friends tease her by implying that she’s too unattractive to appeal to her new crush, Sean. They claim that she’ll appeal more to Sean if she improves her appearance. They give her a makeover, complete with garish makeup, revealing clothes, and ostentatious jewelry—then they hoot with laughter at her over-the-top look. When Raina becomes upset, her friends once again claim that she needs to lighten up.

Teasing vs. Bullying

One reader may encounter these scenes in Telgemeier’s graphic novel and think that Raina’s friends are engaged in harmless, lighthearted bullying; another reader may read these same scenes and conclude that Raina is a victim of her friends’ mean-spirited bullying. Although it’s clear that her friends’ words and actions hurt Raina, it’s not entirely clear whether the onus is on Raina to lighten up, as her friends suggest—or whether the onus is on Raina’s friends to repair their harm and treat her better. Defining the distinction between teasing and bullying may clarify whether it’s Raina or her friends who need to change—as well as reveal how we can best handle real-life instances of teasing and bullying.

Psychologist Nancy Darling aims to clarify teasing vs. bullying by exploring the role of intentions and reactions. She claims that the intentions behind teasing are ambiguous. Some people engage in lighthearted teasing for a positive reason, such as showing that they know and accept the person they’re teasing. However, others engage in teasing to cause harm. Because the intentions behind teasing are ambiguous, the response of the person being teased determines whether the teasing is harmless or harmful. If they respond lightheartedly and don’t appear hurt, the teasing is harmless. If they appear hurt, it’s harmful—and the teaser is responsible for apologizing and ceasing their teasing.

By contrast, the intentions behind bullying are always negative—therefore, bullying is always harmful. For instance, a bully might intend to make themselves feel more powerful by belittling their victim. Their victim’s reaction doesn’t change the fact that their bullying is harmful. A victim may act unscathed, even though deep inside they feel hurt. Whether the victim shows they’re hurt or not, the bully is always responsible for apologizing and ceasing their bullying.

According to Darling’s two definitions, Raina’s friends subject her to harmful teasing. Their words and actions count as teasing (not bullying) because their intentions are harmless: to joke and have fun. Despite these intentions, Raina’s upset reaction indicates that the teasing is harmful. Therefore, the onus isn’t on Raina to lighten up, as her friends claim—the onus is on Raina’s friends to apologize and cease their teasing.

Part 3: 8th Grade

Raina’s Crush on Sean Guides Her Choices

Raina begins eighth grade focused on how she can win Sean’s attention, but her concerns about her appearance persist. Raina fantasizes about Sean kissing a more glammed-up version of herself—one who resembles a movie star with neatly-styled hair, clear skin, a great figure, and perfect teeth. When Raina snaps out of her fantasy, she reflects that due to her imperfect appearance, she likely won’t get to kiss Sean in the near future.

(Shortform note: When Raina fantasizes about Sean, she imagines an idealized version of herself rather than her current self. Some experts claim that imagining an idealized version of yourself boosts your ambition and success. For instance, self-help author Brian Tracy argues that the most successful people have a clear image of their ideal self and use it as a goal to strive toward. By contrast, others claim that it’s unhealthy to compare your idealized self to your current self because holding yourself to an impossibly high standard makes you feel inadequate. Raina’s fantasy about Sean supports this second theory about idealized selves: Her fantasy makes her feel worse about herself instead of motivated to work towards a goal.)

Raina’s Mom Stands Up For Her

While Raina struggles with her confidence, one instance prompts her mom to provide an inspiring example of confidence. During a dental appointment, Raina’s dentist proceeds to treat her teeth before her anesthetic fully kicks in, causing Raina to faint when the appointment is over. Her mom stands up for Raina’s needs by passionately scolding the dentist. On their car ride home, Raina gazes admiringly at her mom and tells her that what she did was cool.

(Shortform note: Raina’s mom provides her with a model of confidence instead of directly coaching her daughter on how to be more confident. Experts on parenting and adolescent psychology might describe this as an effective approach because ample research reveals that teens thrive when they have autonomy over their own lives and parents can serve as powerful role models for teens’ behavior. Raina may have resisted if her mom noticed she was under-confident and provided her with unsolicited advice on behaving confidently as this approach would undermine Raina’s autonomy over the situation. Meanwhile, it’s possible that Raina’s mom’s indirect approach—modeling confidence—left a more positive impression on her daughter.)

Part 4: 9th Grade

Raina Faces Social Exclusion and More Teasing

Raina begins her first day of high school feeling more confident than usual: She likes how she looks in her new outfit, and her years of dental treatment have made her teeth look “almost-normal”—“almost” because she still has braces. (Shortform note: Braces were the most common way for teens to straighten their teeth in the late 90s and early 2000s when Raina was a teen. Today, teens have an additional option for straightening their smile: using clear plastic aligners. While many teens prefer the look of clear aligners over that of braces, these aligners have several drawbacks that braces don’t have—for instance, you have to be disciplined about cleaning them well and remembering to put them back in.)

Despite Raina feeling confident on her first day of high school, her confidence plummets when she joins her friends from eighth grade for lunch and overhears them reminiscing about summer plans that she hadn’t been invited to. This social exclusion soon escalates to hurtful teasing. Raina’s friends tease her when they see all of the items Raina has to carry in her backpack to maintain her oral health (such as mouthwash, rubber bands, and dental wax).

(Shortform note: When Raina’s friends discuss their summer plans in front of her, they’re arguably acting like a clique. Experts define cliques as social circles that are “closed groups,” meaning these groups define themselves by excluding people who don’t meet their criteria for belonging. When Raina’s friends tease her about her collection of dental supplies, they’re reinforcing the boundaries of the clique and suggesting that Raina doesn’t meet their criteria for inclusion due to her dental issues.)

Raina Stands Up For Herself

This teasing soon escalates further when one of Raina’s friends has the “funny idea” to pull her skirt down while she’s waiting in the vending machine line during lunch. Raina storms off in a fit of tears. When her friends once again tell her to lighten up, Raina responds differently than she had in the past: She passionately scolds her friends for disrespecting her for so many years, and she declares that she’s done being their friend. Afterward, Raina proudly reflects that her choice to stand up for herself robbed her friends of the power they’d had over her for the past several years.

(Shortform note: Although Telgemeier never explicitly connects Raina’s moment of defending herself to her mom’s earlier defense of Raina at the dentist, her mom’s actions may have inspired Raina to finally stand up to her friends. Raina’s admiration of her mom’s confidence following the incident at the dentist, combined with the fact that the vending machine incident happens soon after this in the book, suggests that these two events are connected.)

Raina’s High School Experience Improves

Fortunately, soon after the vending machine incident, Raina makes new friends. A friendly girl in her gym class invites her to join her and her friends for lunch. Over time, they get closer, and they enjoy participating in Japanese Club and student council together.

Furthermore, the day finally comes for Raina to get her braces removed. When Raina first looks at her teeth in the mirror following the appointment, she’s upset—her teeth appear discolored and misshapen. However, her worries dissipate when her new friends compliment her on her teeth and tell her she looks cute.

Raina Reflects on Her Friendships, Appearance, and Confidence

Raina’s positive trajectory continues throughout the rest of ninth grade. She reflects that she was unhappy in the past because she allowed her concerns about her appearance to dictate her feelings. By contrast, she’s happier now because she involves herself in activities that interest her, such as choir, art, and student council. She points out that her commitment to her hobbies sets off a positive feedback cycle: Her success with these activities makes her like herself more, which makes her more confident—and her confidence attracts new friends, which makes her even more confident.

The final page of the book highlights Raina’s newfound confidence. While she’s at a school dance with her friends, they snap a picture together in a photo booth. In the picture, Raina smiles—a wide, genuine smile.

Factors That Improve Teens’ Confidence and Happiness

Raina’s confidence and happiness improve not long after she gets her braces off—but she doesn’t attribute her newfound confidence to the removal of her braces, as we might expect. Instead, Raina attributes her newfound confidence to her choices—specifically, her choices to befriend nicer people, pursue hobbies that interest her, and focus less on her appearance.

Research reflects Raina’s experience by suggesting that removing your braces doesn’t necessarily improve your happiness. One study followed close to 500 people from when they were 13 until they were 30. Researchers compared whether people who had worn braces in their teens were now happier than those who hadn’t. They found that there was no connection between having worn braces and feeling happy. The researchers concluded that other factors must dictate a person’s happiness.

What other factors can boost your confidence and happiness? Some experts claim that the top factor that determines your happiness and well-being is belonging to a community. When you belong to a community of people who trust and support you, you enjoy your daily life more and you’re more resilient due to the care they provide. Furthermore, experts emphasize that belonging to a supportive community improves your quality of life even more than putting effort into self-improvement (such as improving your appearance or maximizing your productivity).

Raina’s experience toward the end of ninth grade reflects and supports this research. The positive feedback cycle she describes—in which confidence improves her social connections, which further improves her confidence—is a testament to the power of belonging to a community. The new friends with whom she forms a community support her (such as when they compliment her on her looks) and join her in community activities (such as student council).