Corpuz​ ​1

Hannah Corpuz

Mrs. Alstot

Children’s Lit. H

9/12/19

Children’s Book Review: ​A Bad Case of Stripes

A Bad Case of Stripes b​ y David Shannon is a valuable and recommendable children’s

book due to it’s compelling and significant moral of self confidence. This story demonstrates a

young girl, Camila Cream, who loves lima beans and cares what her classmates think. But to

accommodate to their liking, she tries to fit in claiming that she dislikes them. On the first day of

school, Camila finds herself covered in rainbow stripes. With no cure in sight, it had been that

when Camila ate a mouthful of lima beans, her body came back to its normal state. To present

Shannon’s theme of self gratification, he uses many literary devices such as symbolism, figures

of speech, and tone. Within the story there are various instances of symbols throughout the book

including her changing stripes, lima beans, and her rainbow hair bow at the conclusion of the

book. For example, when her classmates bully her, the changing stripes signify the negativity of

peer pressure and the effects it may cause. The lima beans represent her true identity and her

rainbow bow conveys her confidence. This children’s book also reveals copious examples of

metaphors and similes. When Camila Cream first discovers her atrocious stripes, she, “...looked

like a rainbow,” (Shannon 2). Another instance is when she was visited by an environmental

therapist who calmly told Camila to, “become one with your room,” then slowly blended into the

walls of her bedroom (Shannon 22). The tone that is exhibited in the duration of the story also

justifies the theme of self confidence by showing how lively it is with all the different colors in
 Corpuz​ ​2

the illustrations, displaying what Camila is hiding from other people. It can also be shown as

worrisome, shown how the characters are unsure of how to cure Camila. As for the text format,

the way that each page is shown with a different medicine being brought to Camila, helps move

the reader to the next page by showing that none of the solutions were succeeding. Not until the

end does it confirm that her odd stripes were an illness with an easy solution, just merely being

herself. When the old woman arrives at the Cream’s home, she brings lima beans. At first,

Camila refuses to eat them but then gives in. When the lima beans cure her, the woman calmly

speaks, “I knew the real you was in there somewhere,” (Shannon 28). The illustrations also

exhibit the theme. Throughout the book it shows how drastically her stripes become worse,

proving how Camila becomes what other people tell her to be. During the book, a dominant

character trait is that she is constantly self-conscious and cares what others think of her. Then at

the conclusion, she finally finds out how to be herself. What children can take away from this is

how to welcome other people’s disparities, “because, ‘developing positive attitudes toward… the

cultures of others is necessary for both social and personal development,’” (Martha Crippen).

Showing children that being different is normal will allow them to learn to be comfortable in

their own skin along with encouraging flaws and other imperfections. To conclude, ​A Bad Case

of Stripes​ by David Shannon is an excellent story for children because of its theme of self

confidence.