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SMILE! is the new WATCHMEN.

I said it.

Raina Telgemeier’s tale of middle school self-esteem continues to sell and sell and it’s a beloved story to the kids who read it. It’s been on the NY Times Best Seller list for 12 weeks, on and off.

2012 sees Telgemeier’s next book, DRAMA and it’s another bullseye to the interests of middle-schoolers, dealing with the ever popular school play. On her blog, she just released the cover and it looks like another winner.

DRAMA comes out in September.

1 COMMENT

  1. What about the cover implies that it’s a winner? If someone showed me that cover, without knowing the author, I would think it’s fairly average. It gives a bit about the story but it’s certainly not groundbreaking. So, without evoking what you already know of the author, what about the cover prompted such a comment? Just curious, playing the devil’s advocate a bit here. Thanks!

  2. Mikael, I can see what you’re saying, but knowing its intended audience, I think it’s fairly straightforward and attention-grabbing.

    Also, as someone who is totally not a middle-schooler, I am still super super excited for this. I fell in love with “Smile” as a webcomic, absolutely loved the completed book, and can’t wait to read more by Telgemeier.

  3. Mikael: pretty simple. The heart above the girl’s head. Coupled with her expression, we have theater, a love triangle, a hopeless crush. It tells me everything I need to know. Glee, High School Musical, Twilight, etc etc etc.

  4. Oh and Mikael, BTW, using my magical mod powers I went back and looked at a bunch of your past comments. Funny how when I post work by a woman you need to have it explained why it is good. You never seem to have questioned work I have posted here by men with similar short comments from moi.

    Just a thought.

  5. My daughter taught herself to read with Smile. She wanted to understand it SO MUCH. That’s about as a big a complement as I can think of for an authors work.
    I will probably buy several copies of this. The word must be spread!

  6. My 9 year old daughter absolutely loves SMILE . She’s read it at least 10 times and constantly asks if I know when DRAMA is coming out. We need more books like this!

  7. If I showed this cover to my students, they’d be demanding the book RIGHT NOW – they all LOVED Smile. So I have to be cautious and wait. However, I do know that I’ll need at least a couple of copies, even in my small school.

  8. My daughters liked SMILE so much I wound up buying two copies. They read it, reread it, loaned it to their friends, some of whom bought their own copies and talked it up enough that at least two school libraries I know of bought copies. The book works beautifully.

    It’s led them from reading Raina’s books to reading Faith Erin Hicks, Hope Larson and others.

    And I’d have a copy even if I didn’t have daughters — it’s a great book.

    We’re all eager for DRAMA. And that’s a terrific cover.

  9. Hurrah! After the joy of Smile – and the obvious of mountains of work that went into making it look so easy – I thought we might be waiting awhile for a follow-up. Good news.