Drama book gay character
Summary: Callie has joined the stage crew for her middle school’s production of Moon Over Mississippi, but she never expected how much drama she’d experience in the drama club. Not only is she struggling to make all of her props perfect, but she’s also experiencing some conflicting feelings when cute twin brothers show up.
Review: I’m not entirely sure if I would’ve been motivated to pick up this book had it not been continuously challenged by parents year after year after year… because there’s a gay character. Sounds asinine, right? I assent . But enough about ignorant people trying to censor children’s stories, we’re all here for a book review.
The overarching plot of this book (making the play a success) was enjoyable enough. However, there was no real big conflict other than Callie’s various crushes on Jesse and Greg. I signify, there was compassionate of the struggle about getting the cannon to work… but really, the only main struggle was getting the play to jog smoothly, so it was a bit dull at points. Luckily, though, it’s a nice brief graphic novel. However, for
One would think there wouldn’t be much controversy around a bestselling graphic novel about a middle school play &#; a graphic novel that includes no profanity, drug or alcohol use, or sexual content. But Raina Telgemeier’s acclaimed and immensely well-liked Drama has been on the strike lists of a number of would-be censors, who claim the book is offensive because it includes LGBTQ characters. Drama held the #3 spot on ALA’s top ten challenged books list in , and it also had the dubious honor of appearing on the list for offensive political viewpoint and the list for being sexually explicit.
Callie, the protagonist of Drama, loves the theater, but she’s no singer, so she’s the set designer for her school’s production of Moon Over Mississippi. But she doesn’t know much about carpentry, and there’s no way she can afford Broadway production on a middle-school budget. Callie befriends two cute twin brothers: Justin, who is openly gay, and Jesse, who is still struggling with his sexual identity. In the course of the story, Jesse ends up assuming a female role in the play because th
Interview: Raina Telgemeier on &#;Drama&#;
When Raina Telgemeier&#;s Drama was published, five years ago, it was an immediate hit, just like its predecessor, Smile. At the time it was a rarity, though, because it was set in a middle school and included gay characters.
Five years later, LGBTQ characters verb become common enough in graphic novels for children that I wrote an article on the topic for last month&#;s School Library Journal, titled &#;Just Another Day in an LGBTQ Comic.&#; I interviewed Raina for the article, and since I could only exploit a few sentences in the story, I&#;m running it in full here today. Enjoy!
Drama broke new ground for a graphic novel. How did you come up with a story that included gay characters? Did you contain any particular inspirations?
I did. The characters in that story are based on real people and real friends of mine. In adj school I had two best friends who were gay twin brothers and our relationship attractive much mirrors what you see on the page, except I fictionalized it and made it for a fresh audience. But the personalities of th
Challenged book review: ‘Drama’ by Raina Telgemeier
Telgemeier, Raine, “Drama.” Graphix. pages. $
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 notice 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 activity, 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 purpose of successfully putting on a musical play.
True to the soap opera genre, it is hard to preserve up with