I read Donuthead by Sue Stauffacher and the main character, Franklin Delano Donuthead, has an anxiety problem. He is way too cautious about things like bacteria and even safety in general, and so much that it doesn’t let him lead a normal life. For example, he yells at his neighbors if they are up on a metal ladder and doing something near an electrical line, because he thinks that they will be electrocuted. I don’t think he is really like this, I just think he has a serious mental problem.

I think he has this problem because everyone pressures him to either be normal, or do crazy stuff. For example, his mom really wants him to play third base for the New York Yankees, so sometimes she throws random baseballs at him and hopes he will catch them. Or sometimes she brings him out in the yard for batting practice, even though he is extremely petrified by the pitches coming at him. Also, because of his name, he gets made fun of. He seems to ignore it, but sometimes I just don’t see how he does it. And then this girl named Sarah comes along who is the toughest most threatening girl you have ever heard of, who tells him to fight, shoplift and basically change the way he lives to the complete opposite. This definitely pressures him a lot.

Sarah actually has a dream of being a professional ice skater and she also actually wants to be like every other girl her age. She is very poor though, so Franklin’s mother gives Sarah a job to help Franklin with baseball. In the middle of all of this, Franklin is teaching Sarah to read. They slowly start to become friends. Sarah is really Franklin’s only friend, and I think this helps Franklin feel and seem a little more normal. Now, Franklin has someone to stand up for him and someone he can talk to. He also stops dropping his bat and running away from the pitches in baseball. So basically, Sarah helps Franklin a lot with his anxiety problem.

In their first game on the baseball team, there was a brawl. Franklin gave someone a black eye. This really opens up his eyes and it makes him realize that he can defend himself and that if someone touches him he won’t have to go to the hospital and have two months of physical therapy like he thought he would. At the new ice rink, he even thinks about having a hot chocolate, which has all sorts of artificial things in it. He also even goes on the ice! He became as close to normal as everyone at Pelican View Elementary School.