The Awesome You That You Are

A Bad Case of Stripes

Written and Illustrated by: David Shannon

Scholastic Inc., 1998

32 pages

Modern Fantasy

A young girl, Camilla Cream, loved lima beans. Her friends did not, so Camilla refused to eat them; she wanted to be like them and would do anything to prevent getting made fun of. One day, Camilla wakes up covered in stripes. Oh, no!  She is told that nothing can be found wrong with her, so she goes to school. The kids begin to call out different looks that they want her to turn into, only to find out she transformed to everything they expected out of her. The same thing happened when doctors attempted to put a name on this condition and prescribed her medicine. Will she ever transform back into the amazing young girl that she originally was? Is it so bad to be YOU?

The illustrations in this book are very bright and colorful. They are done with both watercolor and markers. The texture appears soft. There is not a real definite line around the characters and objects; it is more of an assumed line. The facial expressions and body languages in this book are illustrated very vividly. 

I chose English Language Arts as my subject and third grade as my level. I would have the students illustrate themselves as they are now and the versions of themselves that others have expected them to be, whether it was to be more taller or more pretty or athletic. I would do this and teach the importance of self-identity and being who you are. If you like lima beans, eat lima beans!