Lesson Plan: Drama

Review

Raina Telgemeier is the New York Times bestselling author of the graphic novel Smile. Phenomenally written and illustrated, Raina’s Smile received numerous awards, including but not limited to: a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. More important than the awards and recognition, however, Raina Telgemeier is a phenomenal person. Kind, smart, and funny Raina goes out of her way to be one of the most approachable and humble graphic novelists in the business. Add her awards together with her character, and “WAH-LAH!”, you get two doses of extraordinary-awesomeness!

When I heard early whisperings of a new Raina Telgemeier graphic novel title coming out sometime this year I wondered if lightning could strike twice. In Raina Telgemeier’s case lightning has indeed struck twice. Drama is every bit as good, if not better, than Smile.  

Moving from a completely autobiographical storyline to a fictionalized storyline, readers are greeted with a delightful cast of characters. Callie, our star, is determined to give theatre goers a stunning set complete with an exploding canon. Aesthetically glistening onstage in her place, her beautiful settings don’t take away from the offstage drama, however. Two cute boys have arrived at school and everyone is all a stir, or a “drama” shall I say. Both onstage and offstage readers will most certainly smile as they are called upon to pay particular attention to the characters, the setting, the themes, and the drama in this endearing follow-up to Smile.

Elements of Story
Plot: With big dreams of being a Broadway set designer someday, Callie is making the most of her middle school’s theatre budget. But her big dreams don’t take center stage. They are interrupted by all the drama around her. Two new boys have moved to town, and they CUuh-TE. With ticket sales down, and crew members struggling to get along how can Callie learn to cope with all the literal and figurative drama around her?  

Characters: Callie, Matt, Mr. Madera, Greg, Loren, Sanjay, Bonnie, Mr. Glenn, Jesse, Justin, Liz, Jessica, Claire, Richard

Setting: The school, the theatre, the mall, Callie’s house, the park, the walk to school

Themes: Friendship, relationships, family, coming of age, drama, collaboration or teamwork

Suggested Literary Pairings: Moon Over Mississippi, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, The Giver by Lois Lowry, West Side Story, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Monster by Walter Dean Myers, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

NCTE/IRA Standards (www.ncte.org)

4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Middle Level and High School Sample Lesson Plan

Directions, Part 1

DIRECTIONS: For each character, fill in a description of their character traits, and, in true graphic novel appreciation, your own image of what that character looks like.

Directions: Finally, just like you did with the characters, explain each theme and then draw an image that you think best represents that theme. 

Directions, Step 2: Review the tables you just filled out for Drama. Then, in the blank spaces below try to think of your own graphic novel story, just like Raina Telgemeier must’ve done when she started her graphic novel Drama. 

DIRECTIONS: For each character, fill in a description of their character traits, and, in true graphic novel appreciation, your own image of what that character looks like.

Directions: Finally, just like you did with the characters, explain each theme and then draw an image that you think best represents that theme.