Drama follows Callie Marin, a middle school student who loves the theater. Early in the story she volunteers as the set designer for her school’s musical production of “Moon over Mississippi”.
As a typical middle schooler navigating the seventh grade, she learns to deal with pre-teen hardships, confusing first crushes, budding friendships, and student/work-life balance.
Drama is simply a coming of age story where middle grades kids are coming into their own and learning about who they are.
This book takes me back to my time as a middle schooler: the after school clubs, the awkward social situations and potential romances, and most prominently the drama that followed it all. This is a story that anyone who went to a public middle school can relate to.
Telgemeier’s writing is easy to follow and has a natural flow to it, making this a quick read. I like how she structured the book into “acts” instead of chapters. It was a clever way to structure her book while continuing the book's theater theme.
Telgemeier's easy-on-the-eyes art style makes this book visually captivating and effortlessly engaging. Each panel showcases her mastery of composition, vibrant colors, and expressive character designs.
This book has faced serious controversy for its use of homosexual characters. To be honest, that wasn’t a big point of contention for me while reading this book. The introduction of the gay characters didn’t feel forced or shoehorned into the story at all.
This story is centered around the world of theater, and In fact, the theater and acting community boasts a rich history filled with celebrated gay actors and actresses, so when one of the characters in the school’s theater club came out as gay to the lead character, Callie, it wasn’t as much of a surprise as one might think. It was more stereotypical and predictable than anything else.
Also, another point of contention with this book that some readers have voiced is its messaging of the “homosexual agenda”. Again, I’d have to disagree with that statement. I didn’t see any promotion of one lifestyle over another. No character spoke of the advantages or disadvantages of being gay or straight. The gay characters simply existed along with the straight characters. No one made a fuss over someone being gay for the sake of being gay. Nor was homosexuality celebrated, and for that matter, neither was being straight. A character being a homosexual or not simply served as a factor as to whether a character was a possible candidate for Callie to date or not.
While this book centers on middle school students, this book is not appropriate for readers of middle school age as it deals with themes and subject matters that are better suited towards the high school aged crowd. A student of high school age is better equipped to handle and relate with the romantic drama found in this book.
A younger reader may lack the emotional maturity necessary to best understand the themes of this book. According to the “Background” section of this book’s Wikipedia page, Telgemeier originally had similar thoughts when writing this book, “Although Telgemeier originally intended the characters to be high schoolers, Scholastic believed the setting was more appropriate for middle school.”
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