While I did not fall in love with Drama as I did with Smile, it is still a great story. My only problem (and it was me) was that I could not tell the twins apart and it made the story confusing to me at times. It did bring me right back to my middle school years (although I was not a theater person).

Telgemeier never fails to delight. This fictional (not memoir) graphic novel follows a group of theater kids as they navigate school, friends, sexual identity, and more. Highly recommended.

Read entirely in one lunch and fell even further in love with Raina's ability to capture that particular moment in adolescence so well. Only she could capture a crush crushing you in one perfect panel

I've gone through Raina's braces years, her complicated relationship with her sister, and now here comes a new fictional story about Callie, love, and drama. I've enjoyed Raina's previous books because they felt so relatable. Callie's story has that same feeling so I instantly felt connected to her story. Now, I've never been a set designer like Callie or acted in a play but I've watched a few school productions to appreciate how hard those kids must have worked to get everything done. And Callie and her whole drama team work hard for their play. Callie created sets and also a cannon that she had so much difficulty trying to get work, poor girl. Offset the story follows along middle-grade relationships and the drama that comes with it.

Everything starts off with Callie walking with her friend and his brother Greg who she later on kisses after he explains he is no longer with his girlfriend. And let the drama ensue! There are also these two twins Callie becomes friends with who are on the book cover. One of them loves to sing and can't wait to audition as male lead of the play while the other twin loves to sing but is too shy to audition. There is some drama and romantical type things happening with them that gets interesting.

I liked Callie's personality, love of plays, and set designs. She has such passion for what she does that I wish I could see her all grown up doing them. There was a lot of talk of relationships and sexuality. Middle school is supposed to be the time where those things start coming up which makes all middle schoolers more miserable than they already are. I like how the relationships and exploration of sexuality was portrayed in the story. I felt transported back at that age but thankfully with Callie as a guide, not myself. If you liked Smile and Sisters, I don't see why you won't like Drama.

Likeable follow up to Smile, but not as loveable and comparisons between the two will bound to occur.

Callie is a 7th grader who also happens to love theater and be a little boy crazy. When she confesses to her crush--she kisses him as he's talking about a possible breakup-- he reacts by ignoring her and luckily, there's the annual school play Callie can throw herself into.

Things get complicated (it's middle school, of course) and Callie does well with the crew working behind the scenes getting ready for the play (Callie's goal is to have a cannon fire on stage). As she helps announce auditions for the casting crew, she runs into twins Justin and Jeff....and soon a new set of Drama ensues.

As a middle schooler a little obsessed with musicals (it was Les Miserables for me too), Telgmeier accurately portrays the work, planning and craziness that goes on up to the day of the grand performance and likewise she documents the roller coaster ups and downs that happens amongst friends well.

As a reader though, I had trouble with how fickle Callie seemed, jumping from interest in one boy to the next and I was more concerned with how...blitheley she addressed the sexual preferences of her characters (spoiler alert: boys both gay and bi). Perhaps she's modeling the attitude of teens themselves who live with this more openly, but I couldn't help but feel the aim was for Callie to get hitched to a male figure.

Regardless, Telgemeier's aim focusing on all things drama stays true and the story ends on a happy if not predictable note (Callie does get attached to a boy). But yhe free spirit, openness and ability to laugh at oneself when young that was festooned in Smile seems to be missing in Drama. It's more serious, but I for one miss the fun I've seen in her work.