Camilla Cream loves lima beans, but she never eats them. Why? Because the other kids in her school don't like them. And Camilla 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!
Questions to talk about with your child:
Why did Camilla break out in stripes (and other patterns?)
What did you notice about the patterns that break out on Camilla? Do they have anything to do with what’s happening around her?
Look at each of the pictures. Was there anything about Camilla that stayed the same each time she changed?
What made Camilla finally turn back into herself?
Did Camilla learn anything from having a bad case of stripes?
Look at the last page. Was there anything different about the way Camilla looks?
Fun things to do together:
David Shannon always hides a picture of his white terrier Fergus somewhere in each of his books. Look for the picture of Fergus in this book.
Camilla loves lima beans. Have lima beans for lunch or dinner one day.
Draw a picture of yourself with stripes, polka dots or some other pattern.
Check out a book about patterns, for example, Pattern Bugs by Trudi Harris or Patterns at the Museum by Tracey Steffora. Recognizing and completing simple patterns is an important kindergarten readiness skill.
Links: [1] http://ls2pac.lexpublib.org/#section=search&term=isbn:0439598389&dbTab=ls2pac
[2] http://catalog.lexpublib.org/#section=search&term=A Bad Case of Stripes&dbTab=ls2pac
[3] http://catalog.lexpublib.org/#section=search&term=David Shannon&dbTab=ls2pac