Beautiful Boy

May 7

This is a drawing of my room that I made for one of my classes. On the cloud it says, “The world is turning, I hope it don’t turn away.” That’s a really good lyric from a song called “On the Beach.” I put clouds on it because I really like the rain and waking up in my room in the rain, and I put the word “listen” because everyone should listen to my guitar playing. I drew a butterfly because it represents a painting my friend gave me. I look at that butterfly every day. Then, I drew things that represent posters I have. It says, “Won’t you sing yourself a different song” because I really like music—that’s another lyric I like. I drew a bunch of flowers because my room can feel very flowery. In the ocean at the bottom there’s a lot of photos and, if you zoom in, there’s buildings and people—those are from photos I took of my friends—and then, lastly, there’s a chair and that’s from a poster that I have of the Bon Iver album For Emma, Forever Ago. So, that’s my room!

Editor’s note: Annabel started guitar lessons five or six weeks ago. All of the songs on the playlist above are songs she learned with her teacher but John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” is one of the first songs she learned on her own. Here she is, playing it on her sister’s guitar a few minutes later, and (below), a week later on her new guitar—which finally came in the mail.

Mother’s day update: Annabel’s mom asked her for a fingerpicked song. Here’s the one Annabel chose: