Guts: A Graphic Novel

The opening cartoon depicts Raina sleeping on the top bunk in her bedroom. She wakes at 2:30 in the morning, climbs down, and goes in to wake her mother. She says her stomach feels funny. Her mother asks if she needs to throw up. Raina replies that she does not know. Her mother tells her that she also was sick earlier.

They go into the bathroom and wait to see if Raina will vomit. Her mother tells her, “Well, when your body is ready, you’ll just—” (30). At that, Raina throws up in the toilet. When her mother gives her some water, Raina asks why it tastes sweet. Her mother explains that artichokes make water taste sweet when you drink it and also when you throw up. Raina tries to go back to sleep but wakes again and flies into the bathroom, where her mother meets her because they both feel nauseated.

Raina eats lunch with girlfriends at school the next day and describes how she and her mother spent the whole night throwing up. One of her friends tells her that she is grossing them out. Raina says that fourth grade was pretty much one long gross-out contest. The author displays several panels of different disgusting things students did.