Picture Book: Angry Monster

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26

I created a monster in my journal and wrote a little story for it while I was angry. After I shared this artwork with Professor Chang, she encouraged me to make an intact picture book. In order to communicate with my reader, I started to organize this angry experience and rethink this emotion.

從前從前，有一個很愛生氣的怪物，他的名字叫阿怪，他有一個大大的嘴巴，裡面都是口臭和蛀牙。

Once upon a time, there was a monster who got angry very easily. His name was A-Guai, and he had a big mouth filled with bad breath and cavities.

他最喜歡生氣的小朋友，當他發現有某個小朋友正在生氣，他就會悄悄的溜到那位小朋友的身後，一口把它吃掉。

He loved angry children the most. Whenever he found a child who was getting angry, he would quietly sneak up behind them and gobble them up in one bite.

你以為牠只會吃小朋友？那你就大錯特錯了！他大小通吃，從他的身材就可以看得出來，我上次就看到他正在把一個生氣的媽媽吃掉了。

You think he only eats children? Then you’re completely mistaken! He eats everyone—big and small. You can tell just by looking at his size. I even saw him eating an angry mum last time!

生氣的老師被吃掉了，吵架的同學被吃掉了，就連電視上生氣的人，也都被一個一個吃掉了。

Angry teachers were eaten, classmates who argued were eaten, and even angry people on TV were eaten one by one.

大家都被吃到阿怪的肚子裡了，該怎麼辦呢？

Everyone ended up in A-Guai’s belly—what should we do now?

This experience created an opportunity for me to become reconciled with my anger. Furthermore, this picture book received a college Honorable Mention award of Nationwide Students’ Picture Book Creation in 2014, which gave me much joy and a sense of accomplishment.

After attending the Jill Freedman narrative therapy workshop in 2017, I realized that I was using the method of Externalization when I created that angry monster. I was very surprised to discover the self-healing ability of humans. It made me more curious about the methods of art therapy.

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