A Bad Case of Stripes
Author: David Shannon
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
Copyright: 1998
Pages: 31
Reading Level: 3.5
Genre: Picture Book
Rating****

Summary:
Meet Camilla, she loves lima beans, but she never eats them. Why, because no one likes lima beans and she wants to fit in. As she is getting ready for her first day of school…trying on outfit after outfit she finally decides on one and looks into the mirror. What does she see? STRIPES..all over her body. From head to toe, even her tongue is covered. Her mother makes her stay home from school and calls Dr. Bubble right away. He takes a look, gives her a cream and tells her the stripes should go away in a few days. At school though, the kids laugh and giggle, and as they are saying the pledge of allegiance, Camilla turns into a flag. This is too much for the kids, and they all start calling out things and as they do she changes, polka dots, triangles, green, red and more. After this the teacher request that Camilla not come to school until the stripes are gone. Her Father offers to get Camilla anything she wants after her bad day, and what she really wants are lima beans, but she still won’t say because no one likes lima beans. Dr. Bubble is then called again and he calls in the experts, they prescribe some pills that should do the trick and then go. The next morning Camilla does not have stripes, but she is a pill bottle, and things only get worse! One day a therapist comes and tell her to be one with her room and that should do the trick, and it does, she turns into her room. Her mouth as the bed, the pictures as her eyes and so on. Now just about when everyone has lost hope there is a quite knock at the door, and a little old woman comes in. She says she knows just what Camilla needs to cure the stripes. So she offers her some lima beans, but Camilla turns them down, still not wanting others to know she loves them. Just as the woman is about the leave, Camilla decided she doesn’t care what others think and has the lima beans. Suddenly the room is spinning and she turns back into herself. After that, Camilla didn’t care what others thought, and she eats lima beans every day.

Who would benefit from reading this?
This would be a great book to read to kids in the later elementary years who are so concerned with what others think. This can show them that it doesn’t matter what others think, be you. It is also filled with fun pictures and the story line is far from boring.

Potential problems/conflicts:
A potential problem may be that it unrealistic and parents may only want books that are believe able. Another conflict I can see is if a kid liked lima beans before this might cause him to be self conscience.

My reaction:
I thought this was a great way of letting kids know it is okay to be different. It showed that it is okay to like other things, be true to yourself. I also enjoyed the pictures. They are very detailed and I found myself looking at them for quite a while. You can literally see Camilla change before you. A very fun book, I am sure I will read it to my kids some day .