07 Feb A Bad Case of Stripes

Image: A children’s book titled A Bad Case of Stripes by author David Shannon. The title is in capital letters coloured in alternating stripes of red, yellow, green, blue, orange and purple. There are green coloured lima beans scattered throughout the letters.

I confess, I’m a sentimentalist. I’ve held on to my babies’ clothing, the lock of hair after their first haircut and the books that we read over and over as they grew. Storytime was one of my favourite activities with my children.

I recently found a book we used to read to our children (who are now young adults) titled A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. It’s the story of Camilla and her love of Lima Beans. Camilla worries about what others thought of her and instead of enjoying her lima beans, she pretended to dislike them and missed out on what she enjoyed most.

Spoiler alert: the book takes us through the various forms of transformation from happy lima-bean- eating Camilla through to miserable stripey, spotty and tentacled Camilla. The longer she refrains from eating the lima beans, the more Camilla becomes unrecognisable. More importantly, Camilla’s unhappiness increases. She eventually becomes house bound.

Despite consulting many specialists who are well intentioned, it is the kindness and simplicity of Mrs Cream, a wise older lady, who offers the solution: start eating lima beans again. 

As I read through the book again all these years later, I realised why I loved it so much.

It’s about being yourself and the impact of feeling different, being judged and masking. It’s about hiding what makes you, you. And while this story simplifies what is much more complex, the message is simple. “I knew the real you were in there somewhere”. We need more Mrs Creams in the world.

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