A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni

Book Genre: Fiction

Publishing Info.: Scholastic Inc., 30 pages

Awards or Honors Received: N/A

Summary: This book is about a chameleon who wants to have a color all his own. He gets tired of always changing colors to blend in with his surroundings. The chameleon gets the idea to live on a leaf because he figures that he will always be the color green to match the leaf. The book goes through the seasons and talks about how the leaves change colors, and so too does the chameleon. Finally, he meets an older chameleon and the two decide to always stay together. They decide that if they cannot have a color of their own, at least they can be alike through their changing colors.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ****Great! This book has very bright illustrations which is appealing to young readers. The sweet chameleon gets the reader on his side and makes it easy to imagine how he is feeling. This book incorporates colors, seasons, and the camouflaging qualities that chameleons exhibit.

Reading Level: 2.8

Interest Level: K-2

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum): This text could be used for multiple subjects across the curriculum. Science can definitely be incorporated by discussing chameleons and how they change colors to blend in with their surroundings. This discussion could be taken a step further to study other animals, reptiles, amphibians, etc., which camouflage themselves and the reasons why this is necessary for survival. While studying these various types of color-changing characters, the students could keep a science journal and write facts on each character studied. The seasons could also be incorporated into the science journals.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: At this time, I do not see any potential problems or difficulties with this book.