Apr 19 2008
Surreal Children’s Book
Tonight at bedtime, my kids and I read one of their favorite books: A Bad Case of the Stripes. I don’t know how many times their mother or I have read that book to them, but they never seem to tire of it. As I was reading, I noticed something that never occurred to me before. The imagery is remarkably similar to that of Salvador Dali.
If you don’t know the story, it is about a little girl is afraid of what everyone will think if she eats the lima beans that she loves. So she catches “the stripes,” a disease that causes her body to take on characteristics of whatever people around her suggest. Eventually, after one person who tries to help her by suggesting she “become one with the room” the girl literally becomes her room, with a bed for lips and pictures on the wall for eyes.
When we finished the book, I ran and grabbed a book of Dali art that I have and showed my kids the picture of Dali’s 1935 painting “Mae West’s Face Which Can Be Used as a Surrealist Apartment.” We talked about whether or not the “Stripes” author was influenced by the Dali painting
.
Hmmm, I dunno. Looks pretty similar to me!
2 responses so far
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
• • That is very interesting. Thanks for posting the photo because I had not seen the children’s book illustration before. Sure looks like Dali’s influence.
• • Come up and see Mae – MaeWest.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by, Mae. We will probably read the “Stripes” book until the cover falls off.
The entire book is rather Dali-esque, if you ask me.