David Shannon’s vibrant picture book “A Bad Case of Stripes,” tells the whimsical story of Camilla Cream, a young girl who cares too much about what others think. Her anxiety manifests physically when she wakes up covered in rainbow stripes, beginning a fantastical journey of transformation that only ends when she embraces her true self. While primarily celebrated for its message about individuality, this colorful tale also offers a treasure trove of opportunities for explicit phonics instruction.

Story Overview and Literary Merit

“A Bad Case of Stripes” follows Camilla as she undergoes increasingly bizarre transformations—from rainbow stripes to checkerboards to the actual environment around her. The illustrations are bold and engaging, with Shannon’s distinctive art style capturing the imaginative premise perfectly. The resolution comes when an old woman helps Camilla remember what she truly loves (lima beans), even though it’s unpopular among her peers.

Beyond its entertaining premise, the book excels as a read-aloud with its engaging narrative arc and thought-provoking themes. However, its real educational value extends into the realm of explicit phonics instruction, where its rich vocabulary and text patterns create numerous teaching opportunities.

Explicit Phonics Teaching Opportunities

Want to maximize the value of this cute read-aloud? Here are some expert tips.

1. Long ‘i’ Vowel Patterns

“A Bad Case of Stripes” provides excellent examples for teaching the long ‘i’ sound through multiple spelling patterns:

• i_e pattern: In words like “stripes,” “like,” and “time,” students can learn the split digraph (magic e) pattern where the ‘e’ at the end makes the ‘i’ say its name.
• igh pattern: The word “sigh” appears multiple times, offering a chance to introduce this trigraph spelling of the long ‘i’ sound.
• i pattern: Words such as “find” demonstrate how the long ‘i’ sound can appear in closed syllables before certain consonant combinations.

Teaching suggestion: Create a sorting activity where students identify and categorize long ‘i’ words from the text based on their spelling patterns. This reinforces systematic phonics knowledge by explicitly showing different grapheme representations of the same phoneme.

2. R-Controlled Vowels

The book contains numerous examples of r-controlled vowels, making it ideal for teaching these challenging phonics patterns:

• ar: “scarf,” “stars,” “smart”
• er/ir/ur: “herbal,” “birds,” “turn”
• or: “doctor,” “normal,” “morning”

Teaching suggestion: Use a systematic approach to highlight these words during repeated readings. Explicitly teach how the ‘r’ changes the vowel sound, creating a new phoneme that’s neither long nor short. Have students practice decoding these words in isolation before finding them in context.

3. Consonant Blends and Digraphs

The text is rich with opportunities to teach initial and final consonant blends and digraphs:

• Initial blends: “stripes,” “cream,” “problem,” “school”
• Final blends: “sent,” “hand,” “help”
• Digraphs: “she,” “think,” “cheer,” “when”

Teaching suggestion: Create decodable sentence strips using words from the book that focus on specific blends or digraphs. This aligns with systematic phonics instruction by isolating specific sound-spelling relationships while maintaining a connection to the familiar story.

4. Compound Words

The story includes several compound words that can be used to teach word construction principles:

• “everyone,” “something,” “everything,” “rainbow”

Teaching suggestion: Demonstrate how these words are formed by combining two smaller words. Use magnetic letters or letter tiles to physically break apart and recombine these words, reinforcing the alphabetic principle and word formation patterns.

5. Syllable Division Patterns

For more advanced phonics instruction, the book contains excellent examples for teaching syllable division rules:

• VC/CV pattern: “doc-tor,” “prob-lem”
• V/CV pattern: “fe-ver,” “o-pen”
• Closed syllables: “pic-nic,” “pan-ic”

Teaching suggestion: Explicitly teach syllable division rules using words from the text. Show how identifying syllable types helps readers determine vowel sounds, an essential component of systematic phonics instruction.

Structured Phonics Lesson Sequence

A comprehensive phonics approach using “A Bad Case of Stripes” might follow this sequence:

1. Initial reading for story comprehension and enjoyment
2. Systematic introduction of targeted phonics patterns (one pattern per lesson)
3. Explicit modeling of decoding strategies using selected words
4. Guided practice with words from the text
5. Word-building activities using letter tiles or magnetic letters
6. Connected text reading with decodable sentences constructed from the book’s vocabulary
7. Writing application where students use targeted patterns in their own writing

This approach aligns with the science of reading by providing systematic, explicit instruction in phonics patterns while maintaining the motivational context of an engaging story.

Extension Activities for Phonics Practice

1. Phoneme manipulation cards: Create cards with words from the book that can be manipulated by changing initial or final phonemes (stripe → swipe, cream → scream).
2. Decodable mini-books: Develop simplified versions of the story that focus heavily on particular phonics patterns for students to practice reading independently.
3. Word family charts: Group words from the book into phonics-based word families (-ipe, -ean, -octor) to reinforce pattern recognition.
4. Phonics-focused story retelling: Have students retell the story using provided word cards that incorporate targeted phonics patterns.

Colorful Learning

“A Bad Case of Stripes” offers far more than just a colorful story about self-acceptance. When approached through the lens of systematic phonics instruction, it becomes a valuable teaching tool that can help struggling readers master crucial decoding skills. By explicitly teaching the phonics principles embedded in the text, educators and parents can transform story time into effective reading instruction while maintaining the enjoyment of a beloved picture book.

For more resources on using children’s literature to support phonics instruction, explore our list of phonics-rich picture books.