A Bad Case of Stripes By David Shannon Read Aloud Bedtime Story

Camilla Cream Loved Lima Beans, But She Never Ate Them...
One day her skin begins to go whatever color or condition anyone suggests! It leads to terrible consequences until an old woman comes and gets her to admit she actually DOES love lima beans. When she eats them, everything goes back to normal and she's able to live normally again.

I love the illustrations in this book by David Shannon! The colorful and imaginative story helps broaden children's imaginations and builds their power of autonomy. Children can often feel they don't fit in because of certain parts of their personality or interests. This painful experience over time can lead them to loneliness and ostracism. When I was a child, I was made fun of often for being overweight and not having name brand shoes or nice clothes because my family was very poor. I learned quickly that there was no way to please the children I went to school with. I was excluded from ball games at recess so I never had the chance to get better. I learned to just enjoy my own company, books, and drawing. It wasn't till a few years later in junior high, I found out people could like me and be my friends. So it wasn't permanent.

That was a hard time to go through but I feel it helped me. I saw other people in Junior High and High School who hadn't learned to like themselves for being themselves and so they gave in to whatever it seemed people wanted them to be whether in real life or just in their own minds. It did not serve them.

I share this story because I want children to value themselves whether they have to struggle through lonely hard years like I did or not. It will serve them well throughout their life to own their own opinions and not be influenced by crowds or the ideas that are sometimes rampant in our culture. I've known too many people who've fallen prey to eating disorders, suicide, or other tragedies to keep from speaking out about this subject. Every child deserves to feel loved and valued. Every child needs to learn to have the courage to own what they feel and who they are. I value this story because that means so much to me. I know it's mostly an entertaining cooky story about a strange science fiction sort of problem, but at its heart, it's about being true to yourself. Camila needed to learn, the key to having people like you is to first truly accept yourself.

So I hope this story helps your family have some laughter and a little more love for the things that make each child different, even if it's something easy to laugh at like loving lima beans.

Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: Kindergarten - 3
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Scholastic; Reprint edition (May 1, 2004)
ISBN-10: 9780439598385
ISBN-13: 978-0439598385

I make these videos so that you can expose your children to read aloud stories without having to be the one reading all the time, but please remember, that nothing substitutes the power of you, the parent, sharing stories with your children. Those shared moments will be sweet memories to your children throughout their lives. So enjoy my videos, but please please please do whatever it takes to make time to read stories to your kids. Please do that. And thank you for everything you do to raise these new little people.

If you enjoyed this book, you might also like these other videos I've done:
How I Became a Pirate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0FlX4NdPH4
Duck on a Bike - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vduWqDVNTHw&t=50s
Duck on a Tractor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OFl_rdbgTc&t=20s
It's Christmas David! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34MZdQDFmw&t=27s
Clarinda the Cow Takes Flight - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaqdQzd6tcs&t=274s
Hensel and Gretel, Ninja Chicks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdNrbYODx8&t=28s