Version 1.0 www.makingvisualnarratives.com Page 1

Discussion Questions for Raina Telegemeier’s Smile - Chapter 1

Page 6

Why do you think the artist chose to make all the panels in this page as wide as the

page?

The top and bottom panels have lots of dark colors and the middle panel has no border

and only contains bright red letters. Describe the effect this has on the reader.

Page 8

(panel 1) What does the loopy line above Raina’s head mean?

Page 10

How has the artist drawn Raina’s brother and sister to show their emotions?

How do you think Raina’s brother and sister feel?

Page 11

Why do you think the artist has chosen to use an entire page for this panel?

Page12

(panel 1) What do the lines around Raina’s body represent?

What do the lines near Raina’s mom represent?

Page 13

(panel 4) Why has the artist made Dr. Golden’s speech balloon a different shape?

What point of view is this panel “shot” from?

Page 14

(panels 1-3) using pages 70-72 of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, determine which

kind of transitions the author has used on these panels.

Page 18

(panels 5 and 6) Why are the speech balloons drawn with dashed lines?

Version 1.0 www.makingvisualnarratives.com Page 1