Module 6: A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon is a cautionary tale about the desire to fit in and about being yourself.

Summary

Camilla is a little girl who does everything she can to fit in and be well liked by her peers, including not eating her favorite food, lima beans.  When she comes down with a mystery illness that makes her look more and more bizarre, no one knows what caused it or how to get rid of it.

After suffering humiliation at school and having to deal with a media circus out side her house, she becomes more and more grotesque.  She is poked and prodded by any number of experts and professionals and prescribed ointments and pills all to no avail.  Every remedy just seems to make matters worse.

Just when all hope seems lost, a mysterious lady appears at her door and offers her a big scoop of lima beans. When she finally eats the limas, she is miraculously healed and good as new.

Impressions

David Shannon has written a modern day folk tale with all of the classic elements including an important moral lesson at the end about being yourself and not caring so much about what other people think.  The illustrations are realistic and the facial expressions communicate even more than the descriptive text.  There is also a lesson about not making fun of others for being different woven in through the story.  The character names are comical such as Dr, Sponge and Dr. Grop, Dr . Gourd and Dr. Mellon who look strikingly similar to their own names. This picture book is full of figurative language and new vocabulary to explore while the experts are busy trying to figure out what is wrong with Camilla Cream.

Professional Reviews

Camilla Cream wants to fit in, so she conforms, denying herself the things she craves--lima beans, for example--if the other kids frown upon them. She wakes up one morning covered head to toe with party-colored stripes--not the state of affairs aspired to by a conventionalist, but it's only the beginning of her troubles. Her schoolmates call out designs and Camilla's skin reacts: polka dots, the American flag--``poor Camilla was changing faster than you could change channels on a T.V.'' Specialists are called in, as are experts, healers, herbalists, and gurus. An environmental therapist suggests she ``breathe deeply, and become one with your room.'' Camilla melts into the wall. It takes a little old lady with a handful of lima beans to set Camilla to rights. Shannon's story is a good poke in the eye of conformity--imaginative, vibrant, and at times good and spooky--and his emphatic, vivid artwork keeps perfect pace with the tale. (Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus, 1997

Camilla, who loves lima beans but won’t eat them because it’s not cool, finds that deferring to others isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, her desire to please and be popular causes her some spectacular problems: she suddenly breaks out in stripes, then stars, then turns “purple polka-dotty” at the behest of a delighted classmate. Her weird mutations, which stymie doctors and send the media into a frenzy, become more and more extreme until she finally blends into the walls of her room--her lips the red-blanketed mattress on her bed, her eyes the paintings on the wall. Will she never be herself again? Shannon’s over-the-top art is sensational, an ingenious combination of the concrete and the fantastic that delivers more than enough punch to make up for the somewhat heavy hand behind the story, and as usual, his wonderfully stereotypic characters are unforgettable. The pictures are probably enough to attract young browsers (Camilla in brilliant stripped glory graces the jacket), and the book’s irony and wealth of detail may even interest readers in higher grades. Try this for leading into a discussion on being different. (Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1998)— Stephanie Zvirin

Zvirin, 1998

Library Uses

This would be perfect as a read aloud for a discussion group about individuality and what makes us all unique.  Also, a great story starter for a food tasting of different types of beans: garbanzo beans, lima beans, black beans, soy beans, etc. (or other types of food that children might have never tried).

References

A bad case of stripes. (1997). Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com
     /book-reviews/david-shannon/a-bad-case-of-stripes/

Shannon, D. (1998). A bad case of stripes. New York, NY: Blue Sky Press.

Zvirin, S. (1998). A bad case of stripes. Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com

     /A-Bad-Case-of-Stripes-David-Shannon/pid=453814