CHAMELEON'S COLORS

Chameleon uses her ability to change and mimic to demonstrate seven basic colors.

With elements of toy, concept, and rhyming book, this title tries to cover a wide spectrum, but the elements never quite blend. Die-cut openings of diminishing size change the illustrated reptile’s color with each page turn. (The smooth, round edges on the die cuts are a thoughtful touch.) Inside, both art and iambic pentameter rhymes brim with effusive energy but lack nuance. The repetitious text identifies each targeted color and compares it to something found in nature: “I am Chameleon, and this is my tree. / I hide in its leaves—they’re green just like me.” Chameleon, loosely drawn in exuberantly bright art with a watercolor effect, begins as a grinning, green-headed lizard with colorful stripes down her body. As the book progresses, both surroundings and Chameleon’s head clearly change color, so that the yellow-headed chameleon munches a golden mango, then camouflages its pink body among pink blooms. It ends predictably, with a selection of all the colored items clustered together and Chameleon, now crowned and with rainbow stripes restored, declaring herself a “colorful queen.” Though the back cover calls the narrative a “trip along the rainbow,” it is not in rainbow order. It’s adequate, but there are more innovative books about colors and chameleons available. Companion title Shark’s Numbers shares the same die-cut design, but with nothing significant changing about the shark with each page turn, it feels like an arbitrary gimmick.

This book contains many colors, but, ironically, it feels a little drab.