1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Telgemeier, Raina. Drama. New York: Scholastic, 2012. ISBN: 9780545326995.
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Seventh-grader Callie is enthusiastic about being in charge of set design for her school play, but the relationships among her theater friends are complicated and confusing. Can the cast and crew pull it together before the curtain falls?
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Raina Telgemeier's easily readable, highly dramatic, graphic novel Drama introduces tween and teen readers to a creative seventh grader who is trying to work her way up the ladder of her middle school theater program. Not an actress, Callie thrives on creating and managing set designs for the school play (52). She also appears to be at a critical juncture in her adolescence and is often looking for romance with boys in her class. As she floats from crush to crush, she experiences plenty of heartbreak and disappointment.
Although Telgemeier does not dive into defining the children's cultural and racial diversity in the text, she does illustrate a multicultural middle school experience for Callie. All of Telgemeier's drawings are vivid in color, and not just in the background. She spends a lot of time focusing on creating artistic identities for each character, who represent children from several different cultural backgrounds.
Lively and vivacious, Callie's new friend Justin lands a role in the play. Justin is gay and has come out to his brother and his friends, but not at home. He also tells Callie that his twin brother, Jesse, is not gay, but thrives in a quieter academic environment because he is more of an introvert. Callie, who is a strong, independent girl, becomes fast friends with both boys because of their common interest in musicals.
One area of concern for me related to stereotyping, particularly surrounding Jesse and Justin, was that even know Telgemeier does not identify cultures to the reader, Jesse communicates a pressure to get outstanding grades: "He still wants me to be the obedient son, and next year, when we're in high school, I'm sure I'll have to disappear into the books again, forever" (32). This kind of academic pressure made me wonder if in her mind Telgemeier was assigning stereotypes of an Asian American overachiever to Jesse. Putting the book's primary setting in a school theater atmosphere also made me worry that the book might be helping to assign a label of stereotypical school activities for gay students.
As with any junior high, there are emotional ups and downs at Eucalyptus Middle School. Hormones seems to be raging as one of the girls, Bonnie, changes boyfriends frequently. Others engage each other on a friend level, but wonder about romantic relationships with those that they are closest to.
Telgemeier offers a very positive, friendly introduction to several teenagers coming of age and represents personal sexual discovery as something that doesn't have to be terrifying.
To children who don't engage with homosexual people, some families might find this topic uncomfortable, but for children who are aware that gay people do exist in the world (who may be their cousin, best friend, or parents) it's nice to see the diversity represented.
Throughout the book, what is clear, are the hundreds of feelings the students have not only about putting together their play but also learning about how they individually relate to each other and to the larger world.
4. AWARDS and REVIEW EXCERPTS
Stonewall Honor Book
From Kirkus Review
"With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer."
From Booklist
"In this realistic and sympathetic story, feelings and thoughts leap off the page, revealing Telgemeier's keen eye for young teen life."
5. CONNECTIONS
Because Drama's storyline includes conversations and discoveries about teens and sexuality, it has been challenged in schools and public libraries. In fact, in 2016, it and four other books with LGBTQ storylines made up five of the ten most frequently challenged books in libraries according to the ALA. In public and school libraries talking about or introducing children and teens to sexuality is considered taboo. I'm not sure if it's conversing about people who are LGBTQ that is more difficult for adults or the fact that adult librarians may talk about sexuality with children.
Regardless, having quality materials that reflect the human experience is expected from libraries. And addressing the elephant in the room that gay people exist is a critical part of opening a window to allow people who are not used to interacting with LGBTQ people to see them as human (i.e. someone's Mom or Dad or grandmother or best friend).
In this connection, reading banned materials that center on LGBTQ storylines is a great introductory lesson to opening this window or door for students in the classroom or those that visit the library.
The second step is for children to determine and discuss why these books might be banned. What are people afraid of? What are they offended by? How does meeting the complaints of one specialized group negate the needs of another? How does literature push those comfort boundaries for adults where they lobby for books to be censored from children?
The third step in this connection would be to study the history of LGBTQ rights as well as the current issues of this cultural group. Is it possible, even for children with no experience with this kind of diversity to talk openly and accept one another for who they are?
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