Future Perfect — Jen Larsen

50 POUNDS FOR A TRIP TO DISNEYLAND.
75 POUNDS TOR A SHOPPING TRIP IN PARIS.
80 POUNDS FOR A NEW CAR.

Every year on her birthday, Ashley Perkins gets a card from her grandmother -- a card that always contains a promise: lose enough weight, and I will buy your happiness.

Ashley doesn't think there's anything wrong with the way she looks, but no amount of arguing can persuade her grandmother that "fat" isn't a dirty word -- that Ashley is happy with her life, and her body, as it is.

But Ashley wasn't counting on having her dreams served up on a silver platter at her latest birthday party. She falters when Grandmother offers the one thing she's always wanted: tuition to attend Harvard University -- in exchange for undergoing weight-loss surgery.

As Ashley grapples with the choice that little white card has given her, she feels pressured by her friends, her family, even administrators at school. But what's a girl to do when the reflection in her mirror seems to bother everyone but her?

Through her indecision and doubts, Ashley's story is a liberating one -- a tale of one girl, who knows that weight is just a number, and that no one is completely perfect.