Chameleon's Colors Book

What if lions had stripes and elephants had polka dots and . . . ?

Chameleon is tired of blending in wherever he goes. How much fun it would be to paint himself—and everyone else—in checks and spots and stripes!

Children's Literature

There are several kinds of board books. Generally the more successful are those which are designed for the format from the start. Then there are the board books miniaturized from original larger format picture books. The book in hand was "adapted"—another variation—so thought was given to those large blocks of adult reader copy. Even so, the reduced type size of the copy still feels a tad alien. Fortunately Tashiro's artwork is bright and bold, pulling the reader from one extraordinary double-page spread to the next, and Camelion's story seems made for such visual extravagance. After all, what's a lizard to do when his name is synonymous with camouflage? Our fellow works out his identity crisis by trying to camouflage all the other animals—an amusing conceit until they realize what it does to their own hunting and survival issues. Meanwhile, youngsters will enjoy Hippo's conversion to pink, and Lion's bright new stripes, not to mention Elephant's polka dots. The resolution is amazingly powerful, too. The bottom line then, is to be grateful for this English edition of the Swiss original, no matter the format. Reviewer: Kathleen Karr