BookBairn loves a story about a chameleon! She loves the way they change colour, the way they play hide-and-seek. And of course the...

Chameleon Picture Books

Monday, March 25, 2019 BookBairn 1 Comments


BookBairn loves a story about a chameleon! She loves the way they change colour, the way they play hide-and-seek. And of course there are many great stories about them for little ones because it's a fun way to talk about colours with children. We've got a list together of the best ones we could find using mostly our local library (and our own bookshelves!). 

Neon Leon by Jane Clarke & Britta Teckentrup


We love the story of Neon Leon by Jane Clarke & Britta TeckentrupIt tells the story of Neon Leon, the chameleon who is neon orange and he doesn't seem able to change colour. This is an interactive story where you try to help Leon fit in with the background and the crowd, and when he can't it's little readers jobs to help him find a place where he can fit in. It's utterly charming, and the illustrations just make this book! However, despite this book strongly relying on the visual elements, BookBairn loves listening to the audiobook on the Nosy Crow Stories Aloud Podcast too!

My Colourful Chameleon by Leonie Roberts & Mike Byrne


We shared My Colourful Chameleon by Leonie Roberts & Mike Byrne last year when we joined in the blog tour and it really has become a favourite read. We certainly read it three or four times a day for several days after it first arrived and we still read it regularly! This lovely book tells the story of a little girl and her pet chameleon who just keeps disappearing. Her mum thinks her beloved pet is a pest when they lose it on a daily basis because, of course, it just keeps changing colour. The illustrations are simply adorable and the changing coloured chameleon is irresistible and BookBairn is now fairly insistent on a pet chameleon!

Chameleon's Crazy Colours by Nicola Grant & Michael Terry


Deep in the rainforest all was not well. Chameleon was having trouble with his colours. In  Chameleon's Crazy Colours by Nicola Grant & Michael Terry, Chameleon is in a terrible muddle and without his camouflage, he can't hide. Monkey and Meercat offer to help him with his colours but they seem to be more of a hinderance and, in fact, they seem to be enjoying his errors! But what will happen if Lion comes prowling and growling? Perhaps this clever little chap can convince Lion that chameleons are to be feared too? A fun and silly story that has lovely illustrations, we love talking about all the different colours as we read!



From the wonderful author that is Eric Carle, and in his distinctive style, The Mixed Up Chameleon is a story that has us laughing out loud! Chameleon takes a trip to the zoo, he decides he would like to emulate lots of the features of all the other animals and he gets all mixed up! With tabbed pages showing all the different animals little ones can find the animals that they love best and see how the chameleon has taken on some of their characteristics.The end result is a rather strange looking creature with flamingo legs, deer's antlers and an elephants trunk amongst many other things. In the end he decides it's better to be himself! And he's better at catching flies than any of the other creatures anyway. We love this one! And enjoy watching the video of the story too!

Crafty Chameleon by Mwenye Hadithi & Adrienne Kennaway


Chameleons are very versatile creatures, changing colour to camouflage themselves, but in Crafty Chameleon by Mwenye Hadithi & Adrienne Kennaway Chameleon is also very crafty and clever. Fed-up with the bullying behaviour of Leopard and Crocodile who keep bothering little Crafty Chameleon and the other smaller creatures, he ties Crocodile and Leopard together without them knowing and as they pull each other all over the forest. Chameleon gets the better of both and proves that brains are often better than strength or size. With lovely illustrations accompanying this moral tale, it's a fun story to read together!

Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett


Stories about chameleons are bound to be an exploration of colours but in Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett wit and humour takes it to a new level. With very few words this is such a great story about changing shape and colour to match other objects until Chameleon is exhausted! But finally he meets someone just like him to have fun with and change colours and dance with. In Emily's distinctive pencil style this book is a great early story for young readers but also a fun one for children just learning to recognise words. A very colourful book!



Look at me! Look at me! by Rose Williamson & Doreen Marts


Of all the chameleon books we have shared Look at me! Look at me! by Rose Williamson & Doreen Marts is one of my favourites for helping little ones learn about colour. Cammy the chameleon lives in a tree and she is very good at hiding. But Cammy doesn't want to hide - she wants to be noticed! She begins to wonder what it would be like if she didn't always blend in. And she begins to use her colour-changing powers to transform into the brightest creature in the rainforest! Using contrast colours to make her stand out this book has lots of great images to discuss colours with children and the illustration style is very cute and engaging! The story also has a message though - when Cammy stands out she finds it hard to catch the flies like the other chameleons and she realises that it's not good to be a show off all the time! Such a sweet little reminder for children to embrace and enjoy their special skills but in balance rather than showing off! This is a lovely book we borrowed from the library but I can see us picking up a copy of our own soon!



Chameleon Races by Laura Hambleton



Chameleon wants to have a race and all the other lizards want to join in! From geckos to iguanas, komodo dragons to salamanders all the lizards are involved in Chameleon Races by Laura Hambleton. But who will win? This is a great introduction to all things lizard but also has lots of great vocabulary for movement and I believe there are bilingual versions too making it a great one for language learning! The illustrations are a quirky collage with the eyes of the lizards being photographs this book is such fun! And a nice one for little children!


I hope you have found some wonderful books for your little ones to enjoy as they learn about colours and our little camouflaged buddies.

Kim and the bairns xx

Disclaimer: these are all our choices. Some were sent from publishers (others are books that I have found using our local library's online catalogue to search for) but they were not sent in connection with this post. Their inclusion here is my choice. Because I really do think they are great. Please read our Review Policy  if you want to know more. If you click on the image of the book below you will be sent to Amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link.  This means that if you choose to purchase on Amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-90p per book) from Amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog post please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our For Readers Section.






1 comment:

  1. Love these books. I I particularly like the bit when the Mixed Up Chameleon decides it’s better to be himself. I think we should always be ourselves and not try to be anything or anybody else.

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