"Drama" is about middle school students learning how to support each other and learn about themselves while completing a project. Photo of "Drama" by Kaycee Davis.
Telgemeier, Raine, “Drama.” Graphix. 2012. 240 pages. 1338801899 $12.99 978-1338801897
A book being considered for removal from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District’s shelves is “Drama,” a graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier. “Drama” is presently being read by the Matanuska-Susitna School District Library Citizens Advisory Committee.
Anyone who has been involved in teenage theater will find that the book’s mix of personalities among the actors and crew members is spot on. The novel reads like a friendly soap opera. When main character Callie learns that her friend Greg has broken up with his girlfriend Bonnie, she kisses him. When she later tells her friend Liz at theater practice, Liz screams, "HE KISSED YOU?!" and the real drama begins.
Each new scene starts in the middle of the action, so it reads fast. As it is with any group of people, there are squabbles, misunderstandings, successes and failures while the group tries to achieve their goal of successfully putting on a musical play.
True to the soap opera genre, it is hard to keep up with the love interests and who likes whom, especially when we are no longer limited to only boys liking girls and vice versa. To complicate things, the leading male character named West wonders if he is bisexual while dating Bonnie who had broken up with Greg. West dumps Bonnie before the final play, and right before they are to go on stage for the final scene, she locks herself in the janitor’s closet to cry. The comic lead in the play, Jesse – an established gay character who can also sing – changes into a dress that is similar to the one worn by the original actress and saves the play, inevitably leading to him and West kissing. The audience loves the show.
I can see why people might have a problem with this book: the characters are typical middle schoolers working on a musical and some of them are not straight. The book portrays all the students working on the play as normal people.
Will this fit the definition of law Alaska Statute 11:61.128 which addresses the distribution of porn to minors? This is the law that defines whether or not the material is pornographic. I will be surprised if the council finds it so. Some of the characters just happen to be gay. No sex happens.
While someone offended by any display of LGBTQ relationships is going to feel that this is over the top, I found the story to be about kids working together and making a project happen. I saw teamwork and characters working through differences – something that they will be doing as adults whether they stay in theater or not. Adult characters who appear in the book are not concerned with the sexuality of the teenagers.
To show a more realistic demographic, I feel that the author could have included characters with disabilities, contributing positively to the storyline alongside the other characters.
The graphic novel is aimed at grades 5-9 and isn’t intellectually challenging. I read it in less than 2 hours. It’s a fun read, and I laughed to myself several times at Callie’s shenanigans.
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