Chameleon, Chameleon

Experience close-up the many moods (and colors) of chameleons. One brave chameleon ventures from the safety of his tree in search of a new home. On his journey, he meets other rain forest animals, not all of them friendly! Alas, the new tree he chooses is already home to another chameleon. She dons her aggressive coloring until she's sure that the visitor is friend, not foe. Then they welcome each other with brilliant, happy colors.

The photographs in this nonfiction “picture” book are captivating. With frame-by-frame action-packed close-ups, readers are immersed in the world of the chameleon and his neighbors — and from these photos and the accompanying (sparse) text will learn loads of information without even realizing they are reading a book that’s supposed to be telling them something. In this way, the book could be a great mentor text, to get students thinking about the unorthodox ways the books is successful as an expository text. For example, there is a two-page “Did You Know?” spread at the end that presents more information about chameleons in a more traditional text format. Readers could compare and contrast these formats, noticing what the show more photo spreads tell readers, what is left out, and where readers have to make inferences — and in those cases, how the photos supports readers to be successful. Students could be given questions to encourage them to be metacognitive about their own responses as readers to these different presentations of the content, and to think about using the strategies they notice for their own writing. In addition, there are also novel things happening with point of view. Mostly told in third person, there are questions posed that could be the chameleon’s own. Students could use this a model to test the effect of informational text presented in the first person from an animal or object. Students could also use the book as inspiration to create their own photography or multi-media informational projects. Depending on the depth of these activities, the book could be used across grades from elementary to secondary school. show less

Impressively engaging and educational, despite being very short and simple. The two good author's notes help, but so does the photography that tells a large part of the 'story' of this chameleon's adventure. It makes me want to learn more, as now I have lots of questions.

I found it particularly interesting that it was the other critters in the environment were using color for camouflage; apparently those kinds of chameleons who use color actually do so to signal mood. (And yes, there are different kinds of chameleons.)

The photographs in this nonfiction “picture” book are captivating. With frame-by-frame action-packed close-ups, readers are immersed in the world of the chameleon and his neighbors — and from these photos and the accompanying (sparse) text will learn loads of information without even realizing they are reading a book that’s supposed to be telling them something. In this way, the book could be a great mentor text, to get students thinking about the unorthodox ways the books is successful as an expository text. For example, there is a two-page “Did You Know?” spread at the end that presents more information about chameleons in a more traditional text format. Readers could compare and contrast these formats, noticing what the show more photo spreads tell readers, what is left out, and where readers have to make inferences — and in those cases, how the photos supports readers to be successful. Students could be given questions to encourage them to be metacognitive about their own responses as readers to these different presentations of the content, and to think about using the strategies they notice for their own writing. In addition, there are also novel things happening with point of view. Mostly told in third person, there are questions posed that could be the chameleon’s own. Students could use this a model to test the effect of informational text presented in the first person from an animal or object. Students could also use the book as inspiration to create their own photography or multi-media informational projects. Depending on the depth of these activities, the book could be used across grades from elementary to secondary school.

Book Review, Pierce College, Ages (2-5) show less

This is a simple book that gives general information about chameleons. By far the best part of this book is the photography. The pictures are truly outstanding, and the discussion in the "Did you know" section of the book as well as the description of how the photographs were taken, were just as interesting as the main text.

Experience close-up the many moods (and colors) of chameleons. One brave chameleon ventures from the safety of his tree in search of a new home. On his journey, he meets other rain forest animals, not all of them friendly! Alas, the new tree he chooses is already home to another chameleon. She dons her aggressive coloring until she's sure that the visitor is friend, not foe. Then they welcome each other with brilliant, happy colors.

A day in the life of a chameleon, with beautiful color photographs of a chameleon in its tree, climbing down, encountering a gecko, avoiding a scorpion, climbing another tree, shooting out its tongue to eat a caterpillar, and meeting a new chameleon. The new chameleon's skin is dark when angry, pale when friendly. Back matter includes "Did You Know?" with much more information; the text throughout the book is minimal. There's also an explanation of how the photographs were taken.