Places everyone! (Drama)

Telgemeier, R. (2012) Drama. New York, NY: Scholastic

Spoilers Ahead!

 

Callie loves the theatre.  As the curtains open for her story, she finds herself with a recently broken-up crush, Greg.  She makes her move, they kiss, and she hopes for more to come.  The next day he just avoids her like the plague.  So that relationship goes nowhere.  Oh well, she still has the play.

 Callie and her best friend Liz both work as crew for the drama club.  Liz makes costumes and Callie is on set design.  When Callie is out posting flyers for auditions for the show, Moon over Mississippi, she meets a set of twin boys.  Their names are Jesse and Justin. Justin is very excited about auditioning.  Jesse is a good singer, but is shy.  After showing them where to go to sign up, they become fast friends.

Justin gets a part in the play and Jesse joins her on crew.  Justin soon reveals to Callie that he is gay, so they occasionally get to giggle over boys together. Her feelings for Jesse continue to grow though.  The 8^th grade formal is approaching fast, and Callie is hoping Jesse will ask her.  The night of the play gets here first though.  After a lot of hard work, Callie is able to create an awesome prop cannon.  It sells a lot of tickets.  The 1^st night’s showing goes off without a hitch.  Everyone gets their marks just right and put on a great show.  The second night is a bit problematic.  Callie’s cannon is a dud.  Worse, the lead girl won’t come back on stage for the final act.  She was dating the lead boy, West, who dumped her right before the show.  Her alternate is nowhere to be found.  Just as the play looks like it’s going to be a bust, Jesse appears on stage.  He’s wearing a dress, and he knows every line.  West responds like a pro, even in the kissing scene.  Looks like Callie is out of luck again.

Jesse still takes her to the dance.  He disappears, claiming he’s going to the restroom.  He doesn’t come back.  Eventually she finds him outside with West!  She leaves the dance angry and runs right into Greg.  He talks to her a bit, and tries to go in for a kiss.  She blocks it.  She’s not about to make that mistake again. 

The last meeting of the crew comes for the year and of course, all is forgiven.  Everyone is friends after all.  What’s more, because the current stage manager is going to high school the next year, they need a new manager.  They pick Callie.

I don’t know what it is about these types of books, but they just turn me into a little girl.  I’ll admit it; I love these little shy romances.  This book was no exception.  I really feel for Callie though, she can’t seem to get a break when it comes to guys.  It is also pretty neat that theatre is the subject.  The story concentrates on the characters and their work at the theatre.  There aren’t any extraneous details.  All in all, it is a very fun and funny graphic novel.  

On a side note, I got to meet the author, Raina Telgemeier at Denver Comic-Con!  She even signed my copy of Drama. She seemed pretty flattered that her work was required reading.  It was pretty funny.

I read this book because I am required to read a book by Raina Telgemeier