Drama (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

by Raina Telgemeier, BookSource Staff (Compiler)

Overview

Callie loves theater and this year she's the set designer for the stage crew for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi. She's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway. But how can she on a middle school budget, ticket sales are down, the crew members are having trouble working together and she doesn't know much about carpentry?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780606267380
Publisher:	Turtleback Books
Publication date:	09/30/2012
Edition description:	THIS EDITION IS INTENDED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY
Pages:	233
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Raina Telgemeier grew up in San Francisco, then moved to New York City, where she earned an illustration degree at the School of Visual Arts. Her most recent title, SMILE, a critically acclaimed graphic memoir based on her childhood, was a NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and winner of the Will Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens, and received a BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Honor. Raina also adapted and illustrated The Baby-sitters Club graphic novels, which were selected for YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens list and BOOKLIST’s Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth list. Raina lives in Astoria, New York, with her husband and fellow comics artist, Dave Roman. To learn more, visit her online at www.goRaina.com.

Editorial Reviews

Telgemeier's work is part of a boom in smart, wholesome comics for young people, but unlike most next-level graphic novels for this age range…Telgemeier offers familiar home and school situations rather than fantastical cow races and walking houses. In her stories, relatable girls make the first move, add and shed friends according to a niceness-ocracy, and roll with setbacks…The Horatio Alger of graphic novelists, Telgemeier draws up-by-their-book-bags characters who value hard work and seize a chance that has nothing to do with looks or even with love. While capable of boy craziness, they concentrate on friendship and creative fulfillment. The better Telgemeier's books sell, the less hand-wringing to do over the next generation. If this is what the youth of America are into, the kids are all right.
—Ada Calhoun

The New York Times Book Review

Seventh-grader Callie has been in love with the stage ever since she saw Les Miz when she was younger. Since her singing skills leave much to be desired, she’s forged a place for herself at the drama club as the set decorator. While her love for the stage is clear, which boy she loves is a different matter. Is it Greg, the handsome eighth-grade jock who trifled with her while on a break from his diva girlfriend, Bonnie? Or Justin, the cute boy who is playing the comic relief in the middle school production of Moon over Mississippi?—who happens to be gay. Or what about his twin brother, Jesse, who isn’t gay and is helping Callie with set decorating? The author follows up her award-winning graphic novel Smile with another dead-on look at the confusing world of middle school, sweetly capturing all the drama swirling around the school production: from jealousies and misunderstandings to the last-minute surprise stage substitution that may not make a star, but helps settle who likes who. Telgemeier’s manga-infused art has some moments of heartache, but the generally cheerful and affirming story should be eagerly devoured by her many fans. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage. Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School's production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We're the cool kids….He's the dork." 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. Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews