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Telgemeier Family
Raina
“Weird...something happens when you smile at people. They smile back”.
[[Born: 26 May 1977]][1]
- “But the more I focused on my interests, the more it brought out things I liked about myself”
The main character of both Smile and Sisters. Raina knocked both of her front teeth out at the age of 11 while running, leading to a long and embarassing dental journey. She is artistic, and initially shy and insecure about her looks, but grows to become a more self-confident person.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: She originally let her friends walk all over her,making her
even more insecure and miserable than before. Then they pants her in the courtyard and she drops them. - Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: Downplayed, if not outright averted. All of Raina's treatments are pretty standard given the late 80s/early 90s setting.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: To an extent; she's not that bad but can be a whiner.
- Break the Cutie: Her friends' bullying comes to a head when they pull her skirt off, causing her to run to the bathroom crying.
- Butt-Monkey: Constantly being teased, bullied, or embarrassed. Although some of it is pretty funny.
- Character Development: Raina becomes more assertive and confident as the book goes on. This is evident when you compare two specific scenes of her friends bullying her. In the first incident, Raina calls out her friends but does not take further action when they ignore her complaints. In the second incident, she breaks up with them.
- Crush Blush: Does this often in Smile when around Sammy or Sean.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as Amara, but still present. It's not as prevalent after she made new friends. A good example comes early in Smile when she puts on her headgear for the first time.Raina: C'mon Mom ,let's go get me some glasses, a pocket protector, and some velcro shoes.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: BIG TIME. After an entire book of adolescent embarrassment and drama, gains some new friends and badly needed self-confidence, even if her teeth still don't look perfect.
- Embarrassing Nickname: In “Sisters” at the family reunion, the cousins called her “Penelope” because she “doesn’t look like a Raina.”
- Green-Eyed Monster: Was this towards her younger sister, Amara.
- Hidden Depths: Raina loves comics and is an excellent artist. Her love for drawing is, in part, inspired by her watching The Little Mermaid (1989).
- Hypocritical Humor: Early in the book, Raina expresses insecurities about her appearance to Jane (who, coincidentally, is the only one of her friends who is consistently nice to her). Jane doesn't take Raina seriously and maintains that someone at her school has to like her. Raina then delivers this gem:Raina: Well ... Jeremiah likes me ... and Abraham ... and Elias ... so do Dan, and Andre, and Matt P..., oh, and Aaron, and Stephen ... but they don't count, I mean cute boys!
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: The source of Raina's insecurities about her face.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Raina's reaction to her orthodontist explaining they'll have to remove her two front teeth.
- Innocently Insensitive: When Jane tells Raina she's moving away, Raina tries to look on the bright side that she gets a fresh start and a (hopefully) roomy home. But Jane doesn't want a fresh start: she just wants to stay with her friends.
- Jerkass Ball: Grabs this whenever she has to deal with Amara's pet snake.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a teenager but admittedly, she leans closer to the "Heart of Gold" part, being occasionally grouchy and cynical due to being teased and a desire to look grown up, but nevertheless caring deeply for her family and being friendly and compassionate to anyone who reciprocates. Many of her worst moments are spurred by fear or insecurity. She upgrades to a NiceGirl due to her new friends.
- Nice Girl: After maturing a bit. Also before puberty, as she is a sweet, friendly girl in Guts.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Raina quickly befriends a cute and sweet 6th Grader named Sammy on her first day of 7th Grade; it's clear that the two have a crush on one another relatively quickly. By the time the next school dance is around the corner, however, Raina has a crush on another boy, Sean. Because of her conflicting emotions and disappointment Sean won't attend the dance, Raina doesn't go to the dance after promising Sammy she would. Heartbroken, Sammy breaks off his friendship with her.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Seemingly the Inbetween, being a bit less grumpy and more personable than Amara while also being quicker to anger and selfishness than Will. However, when snakes are involved, she and Amara switch places; furthermore, Amara is shown to be just as sympathetic as Raina and having a better relationship with animals than her older sister so it's more complex than "Perfect brother, good sister, evil sister"
- Pubescent Braces: The main focus of Smile
- Rise of Zitboy: Realistically played but still present.
- The Tooth Hurts: Knocked out her two front teeth.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Very downplayed, but Raina is a little meaner as a teenager than she was as a preteen.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's very scared of snakes, due to stepping on a dead one at a young age, to the point where she wanted Amara to leave Mango in the desert.
Amara
“Punch bug. I called it, you just didn't hear me!
[[Birthdate: 10 January 1982]][2]- “The difference between you and me is, that I don't care(It doesn't matter, for it's none of my business.)”.
Raina's 4.5-years-younger-than-her sister. Their relationship is the main driving force for drama in Sisters.
- Always Someone Better: Is this to Raina, who accuses her of stealing her thunder.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Raina sees her as this.
- Deadpan Snarker: Probably more than anyone else in the family; she has the best lines in Sisters.
- Friend to All Living Things: Huge fan of all animals; other people? Not so much
- Hates Being Touched: Shown in Sisters.
- Jerkass Hasa Point: When asked her if she ever felt out of place, Amara said she feels like that all the time, but the difference between her and Raina is that Amara doesn’t care and always be herself. Raina always tries too hard to blend in with the crowd and acts like something she’s not.
- She even called out Raina for saying how she’s not being nice to her because she genuinely feel bad, she knows Raina being nice to her just so she wouldn’t feel bad about herself.
- Once again when she and Raina was in the middle of the desert waiting for their mother to come back for help. When Raina was complaining about her Walkman now dead, Amara angrily pointed out they have bigger things to worry about.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Snarky and cynical, but still loves her family and animals (especially deer).
- Middle Child Syndrome: Implied to have this.
- Nice Mean And In Between: At first glance she is the Mean to Raina's Inbetween and Will's Nice. However, it's shown that she is just as lost and confused as her older sister who she eventually reconciles with, and has a soft spot for animals.
- Only Sane Woman: When she's stuck in a van with her older sister in the desert; Raina starts to panic after Will and their mother have been gone for a few hours and starts ranting about food, their family going into a truck with a mysterious man, and her walkman being dead while Amara tries to get her to calm down.
- The Smart Girl: The most knowledgeable about animals of the three Telgemeier children, and the only one to bring a book on the trip. Raina even admitted that she felt that Amara was smarter than her in an interview as an adult.
Will
"Daddy! We get to see Daddy tonight! Yayyyy! Daddy, daddy, bo-baddy, banana-fana, fo-faddy...
[[Birthdate: September 1985]][3]- “Dinosaurs. Dieeee-no-saur. Dinoooooooo. Di-di-di-di-di...”
Raina and Amara's younger brother. Will is a fairly typical Cheerful Child who idolizes his father and loves dinosaurs.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: How Amara and Rainanote view him.
- Nice Guy: He's very sweet, if a bit hyperactive and loud. As an adult, Will is apparently very laid-back and friendly.
Susan Telgemeier
“Amara, please don't tease her”.
[[Birthdate: December 1949]][4]- “I don't care! My daughter just fainted thanks to your negligence!”
The matriarch of the Telgemeier family. She is often the Only Sane Woman and is particularly close to her daughter.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Don't hurt her children. If you are her children, don't misbehave in the car.
- Foil: While both are caring parents who love their children, she and her husband have very acute differences. She has a more involved outlook on child-rearing than him, can't stand baseball while he's obsessed with it, and (ironically) hates when he keeps bugging her about properly packing.
- Good Parents: More in Smile and Sisters, which focuses more on her relationship with Raina. She's always polite and kind, and does whatever she can to make Raina's life better.
- Parents as People: More in Sisters, which hyper-focuses on a short and stressful period of time. She loses her temper with her children more and its revealed that her marriage is straining her.
- Hartman Hips: She's pear shaped by the time of Smile (although she has a more realistic waistline than most examples). Justified, since she gave birth to three full-sized babies.
- Mama Bear: Her character quote is her reaction after learning that dentists operated on Raina without her expressed permission. She's generally quick to give Raina advice and is very
- Mellow Fellow: A female example., albeit downplayed. She certainly has a temper when her daughter is hurt or when her children wear on her nerves too much, but she is usually quite patient.
- Nice Girl: She's quite friendly and clearly loves her children.
- Only Sane Woman: Is this on the road trip to her hyperactive son and cynical, occasionally immature daughters.
- Out of Focus: In Sisters, up until the reveal at the end.
Dennis Telgemeier
"Maybe we should feed her to the wolves!"
[[Birthdate: October 1945]][5]- “Why don't you try banging it against the wall? That way, when you stop banging, it'll hurt less!”
The patriarch of the Telgemeier family. He is occasionally a Bumbling Dad and the polar opposite to his wife.
- Bumbling Dad: Not the best at keeping house and will feed his children cheese for dinner. He is very caring however and evidently pretty smart, considering he works a decent paying computer job. So he's more unaware than dim.
- Deadpan Snarker: See his page quote (a response to Raina complaining about a headache after getting her braces put on). It's clear where Raina and Amara got their snark from.
- Foil: While both are caring parents who love their children, he and his wife have very acute differences. He has a more casual outlook on child-rearing than her, is obsessed with baseball while she can't stand it, and (ironically) keeps bugging her about properly packing.Sue: Now go home and watch baseball as early in the morning as you want and grind your coffee as early in the morning as you please.
- Nice Guy: He's a chill dude
- Out of Focus: In all three books, compared to his wife.
Raina's Classmates
Jane
Raina's best friend in Guts. Moves between Guts and Smile.
- Character Focus: Appears for a handful of panels in Smile, but she's a major supporting character in Guts, which takes place before she moves away.
- Nice Girl: Probably the only one of Raina's friends (besides Sammy) who isn't mean to her at some point.
Michelle
- Call-Forward: Michelle's teasing is this to the longer-term bullying Raina undergoes in middle and high school. Luckily, Michelle is able to mature and befriend Raina.
- Innocently Insensitive: Implied to be the case, as she rather quickly befriends Jane. Prior to this point, the extent of her "bullying" was trolling.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a bit of a gadfly, but she's pretty nice when you get to know her, choosing to sit with and talk to Jane despite teasing her nonstop beforehand. Both Jane and Raina befriend her at the end, with Raina going as far to ask the class to draw a banner for her when she's in the hospital.
- The Rival: Teases and fights with Raina until Jane befriends her, and Raina decides to be her friend.
Emily
One of Raina’s friends in “Smile” until Raina break up with her and the other groups of friends
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Beside Melissa, Raina also go to Emily to talk about her problems and stuff. While there was some time Emily was nice, she actually one of the crew that make fun of Raina’s appearance. She even admits that Nicole and Karin “joke” of pulling down Raina’s skirt was funny.
- Brutal Honesty: In the earlier chapter, she said how Raina’s ponytails make her look like a baby.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Later on in the series she keep along with Karin and Nicole keep making fun of Raina with her braces. She didn’t even care how humiliated Raina felt when Nicole and Karin pulled down her skirt and thought it was funny
- Pet the Dog: There was some times she was genuinely nice to Raina:
- When Raina showed her and the other girls of her two front teeth being all the way up, Emily tells her not to worry about her two front teeth being all the way up since it’s only temporary.
- Had a conversation with Raina about how The Little Mermaid was a good movie.
- After “breaking up” with her old friends, Emily and Raina still say hi to each other in the hall and talk about their past like how an old art teacher from their middle school died.
Melissa
Another one of Raina’s friends in middle school. Until later on when they both went to a different high school.
- Brutal Honesty: When Raina was complaining how she have to get braces again and going back to being a nerd, Melissa admits that Raina always look like a nerd.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Raina was lamenting how thanks to the teacher reading out loud that Raina likes Sean (her and Melissa got caught passing notes), and worried what everybody thinks, Melissa would point out that nobody would care. Melissa turned out to be right because it quickly became old news.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite joining in teasing Raina, she actually the only friend that is genuinely nice to her and often give her advice.
- Nice Girl: The nicest of Raina’s friends and Raina hangs out with her the most.
- Put on a Bus: Literally because in the later chapters she and Raina goes to a different high school now, and wasn’t seen anymore.
Karin
One of Raina’s “friends” in Middle School. Until later in high school Raina broke up with them
- Alpha Bitch: Karin comes off as the most jerky of Raina's old gang, as she comes up with most of the insults and jokes over her dental treatment, and comes up with the practical joke by pantsing her in front of everyone. Nicole serves as her second-in-command.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is pretty nice to her other friends especially Nicole. But when it comes to Raina, she enjoys teasing her.
- Brutal Honesty:
- When Raina came to school on the first day of 8th grade with now curly hair, Karin said how Raina needs a new hair conditioner.
- After playing a prank on Raina on her 13th birthday saying Sean likes a girl with new looks, they made Raina look trashy. Raina complain if she actually went to school like that, Karin would said that would of been funny.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk:
- Karin didn’t care how the teasing was effecting Raina and was thinking she was just being a baby.
- Later in the book, Karin (along with Nicole) was treating Raina worse than ever then they did in high school. The last straw was pulling Raina’s skirt down while she was getting a snack.
- "Just Joking" Justification: Karin and Nicole had a habit of doing this whenever they tease Raina. Even after pantsing Raina, they still claim it was just a joke.
- Karma Houdini: Sadly, Karin and Nicole didn’t get in trouble for teasing Raina or even pantsing her in the lunchroom. If that actually happened in real life, Karin and Nicole would have been either suspended or expelled for doing that.
- Put on a Bus: After Raina stands up for herself, Karin along with the rest of the girls was no longer mention but did made cameos.
- Stunned Silence: Karin, Nicole, Kaylah, and Emily has this after Raina finally stood up to them After running into them when Raina finished crying in the bathroom for getting humiliated and it most likely they never bullied Raina again because she wasn’t mentioned anymore.
