A Bad Case of Stripes

Today I am sharing an oldie, but a goodie!  A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon is one of my all time favorite picture books!  

Camilla Cream is a young girl who LOVES lima beans.  Even though she loves lima beans, she will not eat them because none of her friends like lima beans.  Camilla is worried about what other people think about her.  She is so worried that on the first day of school she breaks out in a bad case of the stripes!  When she breaks out in stripes, she becomes very worried about what people will think of her.  Will she find a cure to her bad case of stripes?  You will have to read the book to find out!

This is such a great story to share with your child!  It is a great way to introduce the concept of peer pressure and the power of just being yourself to younger children.  Since the story is about a young girl and the first day of school, children will easily make text-self and text-world connections.  Anytime we can connect what is happening in a story to our own lives we have a greater understanding of the story!  This is also a great story to practice inferring.  The author never comes out and directly states the lesson that Camilla learns in the story.  The reader must infer what the lesson is through his/her own background knowledge and the text clues provided by the author.  

Some questions to guide your thinking conversation:

1.  Read to, "Camilla was always worried about what other people thought of her" and ask your child: Can you think of a time when you worried about what someone thought of you? After your child shares, you can share a time you were worried about what someone thought of you.

2.  Read to, "Then she screamed" and ask your child:  What do you think happened to make Camilla scream?  

3.  Read to, "And he went off" and ask your child:  What do you predict will happen when Camilla goes to school?

4.  Read to, " ...and she broke out in stars" and ask your child:  How do you think Camilla feels? How would you feel?

5.  Read to, "But the Experts didn't have a clue, much less a cure" and ask your child:  What do you think might cure Camilla?

6.  Read to, "...but she was still afraid to admit it" and ask your child:  Why is Camilla so afraid to admit she likes lima beans?

7.  Read to the end of the story and ask your child:  What lesson do you think Camilla learned?  How can you apply that lesson to your life?  

This story is great for kids (and adults) of any age.  The message is priceless.