Customer Reviews

The Mixed-Up Chameleon

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eric Carle's "The Mixed-Up Chameleon" tells the story of a little chameleon who hates the fact that he changes color to match his surroundings. He notices a zoo and all the wonderful and distinctive animals there. He begins to wish for (and receives) various elements from the animals ("I wish I was tall, like a giraffe" is one). The chameleon ends up as an assemblage of parts which look great on the original animals, but don't do very well all together. The rub comes when the hungry chameleon cannot reach the fly to eat it. He wishes to be himself again and regains his true form.

My kids love this book, not only for the beautiful artwork, but also because as each page is turned, the new animal whose feature the chameleon takes is shown, so at the end, all the animals are shown at the edge of the page. I like the message that being yourself is always the best, and that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

We read this book after Brown Bear and Polar Bear and about the same time as Hungry Caterpillar. While my 2 1/2 year old son, Brian, loves all of his Eric Carle books, he's particularly taken with this mixed-up chameleon. From the first page, there are already new concepts to grasp, such as seeing the chameleon turn "brownish" after it moved onto a "brown" tree, "reddish" on a "red" flower, and "yellowish" on the "yellow" sand. That's just Page 1. Subsequently, Brian would then read out loud, how "I wish I could be HANDSOME like a flamingo,"..."smart like a fox",..."funny like a seal" at which point he'll go "hahahahaha". He's only had the book for 3 weeks and he's already "reading" almost the whole book by himself. The story has a moral to it too, about how the chameleon, after wishing to be all the things it wasn't, ended up so mixed-up that it finally wished "I could be myself." We have great fun reading about the chameleon together, as we do about the other Eric Carle characters: hungry caterpillar, brown bear, polar bear, and little cloud.

This is a great book that reinforces a strong message to children. I read this book every year in my classroom during the first week of school. I do not focus on the colors in the book - I feel that the story's value lies in the message that everyone is unique and special. The kind of responses that children offer in response to this high-quality piece of literature is amazing....a great read, in the classroom and at home.

I think that "The Mixed-Up Chameleon" by Eric Carle is a really great, fun and interesting, and a great learning experience for children. Personally, I have loved this book since as long as I can remember. In the beginning, it describes a chameleon that is bored of its boring life. He then goes to the zoo and sees all kinds of different and beautiful animals. Astonished by the sight of all of them, he wishes to become them one by one. He must wish to be about ten animals including a person. After all of this excitement, he sees a fly and...... Well, I can't tell you what happens! Buy this book and your child(children) and you can find out together.
This is the type of book that you can read and enjoy for years and years. Although, if I had to lower it down to a certain age group, then, I would have to say it's mostly for children from the ages 5-8. But don't get me wrong, I'm defiantly not telling all of you that are older not to read this book.
For all of you parents out there:
This book is a great choice for children that are in the learning process of reading. It's easy to comprehend and there are not many words that will be stumbled on. Also, it has a great lesson behind all of it. You can wish to be something else, and if that wish comes true, then all it will tell you is that you were perfect the way you were before. Wishing to be something else will just make things difficult in the long run.
So after hearing all that I have to say do you think you'll be interested in buying a book like this? Trust me, it will be worth the money and a great buy.
Also, I just wanted to say that if you enjoy this book, then I believe that you will enjoy every single one of Eric Carle's others. He is an amazing author.

This is a story of a chameleon who is not happy. He thinks he is not exciting. He sees some beatiful animals at the zoo and wishes he could be like them. The animals he sees are: a white polar bear, a pink flamingo flamigo, a red fox, an orange fish, a brown deer, a yellow giraffe, a green turtle, a blue elephant,and a purple seal. Each time the chamelon sees a new animal he wishes he could be like them. The chamelon's body begins to dipict a part of the other animals. At the end of the story he wishes to be back to normal. This book could be used in the classroom when the students are learning their colors. It could be used to reinforce squencing. The students could retell the order the animals appear. The illustrations are are wonderful in this book. The students could construct torn-paper designs to illustrate the chameleon.

This text is an invaluable picture book for children learning how to read, how to enjoy reading and to learn about the joys and absurdities that life can bring. It is a humerous text that utilises excellent illustrations to represent the plot. The plot itself humerously intertwines fantasy with reality, ofcoarse it depends upon the child's imagination. A must for any child that enjoys playing with words and surreal ideas. The book's design is additionally unique in that is in an organisational folder style whereby children may select various imaginary creatures as they choose. I hope that others can share this wonderful picture book with all children they read to and/or with.

Eric Carle has a beautiful way of telling stories that touch the heart and teach valuable lessons. The Mixed-up Chameleon tells a story about the importance of being yourself. My 2 year old loves the bright pictures and easy to follow story. Another loved Eric Carle story!

This is a great book for all ages. We've read it before & are purchasing it today. This book really teaches about loving yourself. The silly chameleon wants to be everyone EXCEPT himself. But then he discovers all the special things only HE can do & decides he's not too bad afterall. And (of course) the pictures are AWESOME!

My daughter loves this book so I ordered it as one of her Christmas presents. The price was incredible compared to what it is listed for in the bookstore.

I bought this book for my 4 boys and from the first time we read it together over a year ago it has been a favorite of theirs. It has been a rare night that they haven't asked to read this story. The illustrations are absolutely hilarious too! The chameleon in the story asks for what he thinks are the best parts of different animals he sees at the zoo. So as those parts are added to his body he looks funnier and funnier as the story progresses. There is an important message in the story that I believe is a good message for people of all ages. After the chameleon is all mixed up he has lost his ability to eat flies, and his final wish is to be himself. Great message told in a funny way. I haven't gotten tired of reading this one yet!!