Week Five: Picture books for older readers: A Bad Case of Stripes

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
(cover image from Amazon.com)

Bibliography: Shannon, D. (1998). A bad case of the stripes. New York: The Blue Sky Press. ISBN: 978-0590929974

SUMMARY
Camilla often worried about what other people thought of her. For example, she loved lima beans, but was afraid the kids would tease her. While fretting over what to wear on the first day of school, she caught a case of stripes, covering her body in thick bands of rainbow colors. The next day, she broke out into stars and stripes during The Pledge of Allegiance, checkerboard patterns and various other designs. Her parents called in doctors, specialists, and experts, and none of them helped. Instead she grew tentacles, bacteria tails and fuzzy virus balls. The media landed in her front yard, and no matter what the remedy, Camilla only got worse. Finally, an old woman appeared at her door with the cure: lima beans.

MY IMPRESSIONS
I've always been a big fan of David Shannon. I own most of his books and appreciate his sense of humor. A Bad Case of Stripes is no exception. It's an exaggerated, humorous picture book about self-acceptance. Only when Camilla makes peace with her love of lima beans does her striped/spotted/tentacled affliction go away. The text and illustrations work well together, although the illustrations garner most of the attention when reading this book. A close-up of Camilla is shown on the cover, wrapped in a blanket in bed with a thermometer sticking out of her lips. The lush images are large, bold and realistic, taking up most of the space on every page. They not only show the action of the story but add humorous elements and depth. Camilla sticks a striped tongue out at during the doctor's examination. The letters on the TV station's van read WKKO. Camilla wriggles under the scrutiny of a team of white-coated Specialists, one of whom is tickling her foot with a feather. Especially fun are the facial expressions of the characters. The illustrations can seem a bit terrifying for children, sometimes moving into the grotesque or horrible. But every time I read A Bad Case of Stripes to a kid, they LOVE it. I think in many cases, children find a different meaning for this book, rather than self-acceptance. I suspect it's a better metaphor for dealing with the terror of starting school, of being judged by peers, of feeling powerless as a kid when sickness takes over. Fear, stress and anger show up as physical, outside symptoms--stripes and spots and squiggly lines--so everyone understands how they feel on the inside.

ACTIVITIES
Other than the usual storytime selection, this book would pair well with a non-fiction book on what else? Lima beans! Discuss food groups and vegetables and how they are grown and harvested. Sing "Three Sisters," the song about corn, beans and squash. If possible, include a field trip to a local Farmer's Market or farm. Make artwork with colored paper, dried beans and glue.

During flu season, read this book. Talk about germs and how to protect the body from illnesses. Encourage kids to wash their hands frequently, sneeze into their elbows and keep hands away from their eyes and mouths.

Use this book with middle school and high school students on the same topic. Discuss how communicable diseases spread and government policies to stop such epidemics as H1N1 or the Swine Flu. Bring in non-fiction books about the history of disease outbreaks including the plague, the flu, small pox, cholera, malaria, etc.

2000-2001 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee
Junior Library Guild Selection
2000 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award
1999 Montana Treasure State Award Winning Book
2000 Utah Children's Literature Association of Utah Picture Book Award (grades K-3)
2000 Wisconsin WEMA Golden Archer Award

REVIEWS

"This highly original moral tale acquires mythic proportions when Camilla Cream worries too much about what others think of her and tries desperately to please everyone. First stripes, then stars and stripes, and finally anything anyone suggests (including tree limbs, feathers, and a tail) appear vividly all over her body. The solution: lima beans, loved by Camilla, but disdained for fear they'll promote unpopularity with her classmates. Shannon's exaggerated, surreal, full-color illustrations take advantage of shadow, light, and shifting perspective to show the girl's plight. Sly humor lurks in the pictures, too. Despite probing by doctors and experts, it takes "an old woman who was just as plump and sweet as a strawberry" to help Camilla discover her true colors. Set in middle-class America, this very funny tale speaks to the challenge many kids face in choosing to act independently."

Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Library System, Worcester, MA from Bowker's Books in Print Online

"On this disturbing book's striking dust jacket, a miserable Betty-Boop-like girl, completely covered with bright bands of color, lies in bed with a thermometer dangling from her mouth. The rainbow-hued victim is Camilla Cream, sent home from school after some startling transformations: 'when her class said the Pledge of Allegiance, she turned red, white, and blue, and she broke out in stars!' Scientists and healers cannot help her, for after visits from 'an old medicine man, a guru, and even a veterinarian... she sprouted roots and berries and crystals and feathers and a long furry tail.' The paintings are technically superb but viscerally troubling. The doe-eyed girl changes her stripes at anyone's command, and only nonconformity can save her. When she finally admits her unspeakable secret--she loves lima beans--she is cured. Shannon juggles dark humor and an anti-peer-pressure message. However, the grotesque images of an ill Camilla may continue to haunt children long after the cover is closed."
Publisher's Weekly, January 5, 1998

"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, 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."
Booklist.com