A Bad Case of Stripes

by David Shannon

Book Overview

"What we have here is a bad case of stripes. One of the worst I've ever seen!"Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she never eats them. Why? Because the other kids in her school don't like them. And Camilla Cream is very, very worried about what other people think of her. In fact, she's so worried that she's about to break out in...a bad case of stripes!

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590929976
• ISBN13: 9780590929974
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Blue Sky Press (AZ)
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.5" x 11.2"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Book missing most of the pages

My nephew has been begging for this book. I was finally able to get it. However, it is missing most of the pages. Now I have to find another one.

Overall the book looks great on the outside. But whilst reading it to my daughter several pages fel

The book itself is great! One of my childhood favorites. Great artwork and a relaly good and easy to understand message!

Wonderful illustrations!

I loved this book in elementary school, especially because of the illustrations. Ordered the “like new” hardcover. There were a couple of tears on the book jacket, but other than that the pages are quite clean.

Best Book of My Childhood

Reading this book in elementary school over and over again was so fun and to this day I always think of this book.

Very disappointed

The very first page of the story was ripped out and missing and most of the rest of the pages are loose.

Torn book

This book should not be resold. Torn binder and pages.

Laugh Out Loud Funny with a Moral Too!

The grown-ups at our house love this book as much as the kids do. The concept (see editorial reviews) is funny enough, add the great illistrations and you just can't beat it. Plus the cure for the stripes is to stop following the crowd and be yourself. Perfect book for lower elementary age, with appeal for all ages.

Excellent Book!

Camilla loves lima beans, but won't eat them because no other children like them. One day she wakes up with bright stripes across her face. From then on she turns into anything she eats or talks about. She then learns to deal with being different and made fun of by her classmates, until a old lady comes and gives her lima beans to eat. When she returns to normal Camilla decides that she doesn't care what anyone thinks and eats all the lima beans she wants. The cover design really sets this book off. The colorful stripes and big words attract children to read this story. The author gives a unique story to help children understand that different is not bad. The characters are very stereotypical in a funny way. For example when talking with the doctors, "Then the specialist went to work on Camilla. They squeezed and jabbed, tapped and tested." The detail and description in this story is excellent and the illustrations along with the character development go together to make a hilarious yet "deep" story plot.This book is written for transitional and fluent readers, but children of all ages would enjoy this story. This story could be used when discussing differences and doing what is right. Teachers could use it when working on writing with detail.

A modern classic!

Well, I was cruising through the library stacks, looking for the author of "No, David!" (another outstanding book) when I came across this piece of magic. The illustrations are works of art, the writing is tight and lyrical, the dialogue is beyond what you would expect to find in writing for "mere children." Cross "Madeline" with Roald Dahl and you've got an idea of what you're in store for!The story, if you haven't gleaned it from other reviews, is that Camilla has decided to be untrue to herself by denying herself her one great love in life - lima beans by the steaming plateful. As a result of the obvious internal angst over her leguminous desire and her need to do what she perceives as cool, her body rebels and does the most uncool thing of all - it covers itself in a rainbow of stripes. Things get worse when Camilla is allowed by the family doctor to go to school - the stripes start shifting colors and shapes at the whim of the other students. Eventually, she is forced to stay home, thanks to the voiced concerns of frightened parents. The final showdown comes as pandemonium erupts when the local television stations discover this oddity in their town. This book will charm children of all ages - my ten-year-old couldn't believe what she was hearing from her sister's bedroom as I read it aloud before bedtime. Grab this book and embrace it as the treasure it is.

Beautiful, funny and educational - Perfect!

This book has passed the kids-test with flying colors in our household. My three children 4-7 pick it out of the hundreds of books they own or borrow time and time again. The illustration is colorful and funny. The story has enough realism to anchor it into a child's world but plenty of fantasy to make it adventurous and interesting. Best of all, the morale of the story, (that a child can be herself and doesn't need to suppress personality traits, likes and dislikes just to fit in) is conveyed in a compassionate and not at all preachy voice. It comes across even for a child in the targeted age range. A wonderful children's book.