Act I kicks off with Callie walking home from school with Matt and his older brother Greg, who is also her crush. As you might guess from the cover of Drama, there is more than one kind of drama going on in this story. And, as the mother of a kid who has been a theater geek since middle school, I can tell you that Drama is spot on, from the behind the scenes action to center stage.Ĭallie Marin, is an enthusiastic, passionate seventh grader who is every bit as vibrant as her purple and magenta colored hair. Telgemeier meets this challenge brilliantly. Perhaps because of this, to tell a story set in our world with everyday people and problems might even be more of a challenge in a graphic novel. Barbarian third-graders who travel to Earth, space aliens, magical amulets and anthropomorphized bones are great subject matter when you can tell a long, complex story with illustrations and words. As Calhoun notes, most graphic novels have a fantasy settings, perhaps because there is so much more you can show (with art) rather than tell (with words) in a story when you are creating a graphic novel. The important thing to remember is that, in the world of graphic novels for middle grade readers, Telgemeier stands alone when it comes to the stories she chooses to tell. There is a great review of Drama by Ada Calhoun that was in the New York Times book review recently in which Telgemeier's books are referred to as "nice-girls-finish-first" and "hobbies-before-hotties" stories, which I think is great, if not a bit reductive.
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