Picture Book, 3rd draft

pg.1: I woke up today not feeling like myself. I reached up to pat my head, thinking that maybe my favorite pink bow had fallen off while I was sleeping...it was still there.
pg.2: I pushed my covers down, stepped out of bed, and walked toward my mirror. I gasped. I was a green, hairy, slimy, fat, gross monster! I touched my hair and felt worms. I poked my stomach, and green slime oozed on my finger. I opened my mouth, and out came bug juice. “AHHHHH!”
pg.3: When my friends came over, like they usually do on Saturdays, they rang the doorbell and I peeked out of the mail slot. Ava and Julie looked down and smiled at me. I opened the door, and then after they were inside slammed it shut. Luckily, no-one but Ava and Julie were outside to see me. “What’s wrong?” Ava asked. I shushed them and pulled them up the stairs to my room.
pg.4: “I woke up today,” I gulped, “A MONSTER!” They looked at each other, then replied “No silly! You’re not a monster! You’re pretty! Now can we go back outside to play house? You can be the mommy this time!” “Are you crazy! I can’t go outside looking like this! I am ugly and fat and green and slimy! Can’t you see?” “What are you talking about? You look completely normal!”
pg.5: After Ava and Julie left early, since they were bored with me stuck inside, my mom asked if I wanted to go out for pizza, or maybe ice-cream. Yikes! I thought. I can’t have all my friends seeing me like this! They will laugh at me! “No thanks mommy. Let’s just stay home tonight.”
pg.6: On Sunday, instead of playing with my friends like I usually do on Sundays, I was sitting on my couch, waiting for them. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. They never came!
pg.7: I was looking out the window when I saw Ava and Julie walking straight towards my house, ice-creams in hand, laughing in the sun. Finally! But then...they walked past my door to go a few houses down to Julie’s house. I jumped up and through the mail slot called out to them. “Guys! Why didn’t you come over?” “Um, well, yesterday all you did was sulk around your room. Today we kind of wanted to go outside to have fun! You aren’t a monster, and we don’t know how many more times we have to say it!” Then they walked away. Tears started coming to my eyes, and my face grew hot and red.
pg.8: I stormed back up to my room to the mirror. “HEY! Everyone says I look normal, so they must be right! Stop lying to me about who I am! I am not a monster! I know if I went outside, no-one would look at me strange. Go away!”
pg.9: And just like that, the monster slowly became me again.
MAYBE: pg.10: When I woke up the next day, feeling totally normal, bow still on my head, I walked towards my mirror. There was a girl standing there, with plain black hair, pale skin, and only a tongue in her mouth. (OR just show image)
pg.10 (IMAGE):- Annie’s back (mostly dominant part of page), then front in mirror (smiling) and have room colorful and happy, with girl with messy black hair, petite, skirt, etc with a pink bow on her head
pg.11: It was me OR/AND I was back

Author's Note

When I was around 11 I started looking at myself, and rejecting what I knew. I started believing my perfectly normal body shape was fat. I always was a chubby youngster, and those comments I got from family as I finally started to grow out of my baby fat, like 'Look how much weight you lost!" and "Wow, Tulah, you are looking great!" had gotten to me, turned around in my mind. I became obsessed with food labels, exercise, and calculating how much food I 'deserved' in a day.

Anorexia, I believe, is not only a disease where your body gets malnourished. Anorexia is when your mind gets malnourished, too. Instead of food, we feed our mind insults and constant work to simply not hate yourself. About 1 in 200 Americans will develop anorexia at some point in their life (Harvard Mental Health Letter, Feb 2003 edition, pp. 1-4). It can start from a diet, having a need for peer’s approval, or our minds becoming ‘a lot less smart about ourselves’ (Psychology Today, The Skinny Sweepstakes, SKS.SIRS.com). Anorexia not only makes us thin, but it can cause major detriments to our social life and health beyond weight. Anorexia can cause heart failure, liver disorders, and possibly swollen joints. People suffering from Anorexia Nervosa are often ‘shy, neat, quiet, conscientious, and hyper sensitive to rejection’ (Anorexia Nervosa part 1). Anorexia patients push people away, not accepting their help because they ‘deny that anything is wrong’ (Harvard Mental Health Letter, Feb 2003 edition, pp. 1-4).

I am not anorexic, but I know what it feels like to think that I am never good enough for everyone around me, including myself. This story came out of my feeling for wanting to share what it feels like to be alone and lost, which almost everyone feels at some point, and how we simply need to be strong and stay true to ourselves. We are all beautiful, truly no matter what size or shape.

Works Cited
- Marano, Hara Estroff. "The Skinny Sweepstakes." Psychology Today Vol. 41, No. 1. Jan./Feb. 2008: 88-95. SIRS Researcher. Web. 12 Dec 2010.
- Unknown. "Anorexia Nervosa--Part I." Harvard Mental Health Letter. Feb. 2003: 1-4. SIRS Researcher. Web. 12 Dec 2010.