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The Mixed-Up Chameleon [Paperback]

Eric Carle
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

List Price: $6.99
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Book Description

February 9, 1988 4 - 8 years450L (What's this?)

The chameleon's life was not very exciting until the day it discovered it could change not only its color but its shape and size,too. When it saw the wonderful animals in the zoo, it immediately wanted to be like them -- and ended up like all of them at once -- with hilarious results.


Frequently Bought Together

The Mixed-Up Chameleon + The Grouchy Ladybug + The Very Busy Spider
Price for all three: $19.77

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Collages in festive hues illustrate this story of a chameleon that learns to change not only his colors but his shape and his dreams as well. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Eric Carle is the creator of more than seventy picture books for young readers.

Eric Carle was born in New York, USA. However, when he was just six, he moved with his parents to Germany. In 1952, after graduating from the prestigious Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart, he fulfilled his dream of returning to New York.

Eric Carle has received many distinguished awards and honours for his work, including, in 2003, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his lifetime contribution to children's literature and illustration.

In 2002, fifty years after Carle's return to the United States, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art was opened in Amherst, Massachusetts. Here visitors of all ages can enjoy, in addition to Eric Carle's work, original artwork by other distinguished children's book illustrators from around the world.


Eric Carle es el creador de más de setenta libros ilustrados para niños.

Nació en Syracuse, Nueva York, pero a los seis años de edad se trasladó con sus padres a Alemania. En 1952, tras graduarse de la prestigiosa Akademie der Bildenden Künste de Stuttgart, logró cumplir su sueño de regresar a Nueva York.

Ha recibido muchos e importantes premios y distinciones, entre ellos el Laura Ingalls Wilder Award en 2003, por su aportación global a la literatura y a la ilustración infantil.

En 2002, cincuenta años después de su regreso a los Estados Unidos, se inauguró en Amherst, Massachusetts, el Museo Eric Carle de Libros Ilustrados, donde se exhibe, además de la obra completa de Eric Carle, un buen número de originales de los más destacados ilustradores de libros infantiles del mundo entero.


Product Details

  • Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  • Paperback: 40 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (February 9, 1988)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0064431622
  • ISBN-13: 978-0064431620
  • Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for young children.


Eric was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1929, and moved with his parents to Germany when he was six years old. After graduating from art school, he returned to America, the land of his happiest childhood memories, and found work as a graphic designer.


After seeing an advertisement designed by Eric, respected educator and author, Bill Martin Jr, called to ask him to illustrate a story he had written. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, with its distinctive collage style, was the result of their collaboration. This favorite was the beginning of Eric Carle's true career. Soon Eric was writing his own stories, developing a close bond with Ann Beneduce, the founder of Philomel Books, who would be his editor for nearly 40 years. In 1969 they published the celebrated classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which has eaten its way into the hearts of literally millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Since this beginning, Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote.


The secret of Eric Carle's books' appeal lies in his intuitive understanding of and respect for children, who sense in him instinctively someone who shares their most cherished thoughts and emotions. He says "I believe the passage from home to school is the second biggest trauma of childhood; the first is, of course, being born.
Indeed, in both cases we leave a place of warmth and protection for one that is unknown. The unknown often brings fear with it. In my books I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun."


Eric Carle has two grown-up children, a son and a daughter. He and his wife Barbara divide their time between Massachusetts and Florida.

Customer Reviews

I recommended this book inclusive to the parents... Its woonderfull!!! A. Reyes  |  11 reviewers made a similar statement
Wishing to be something else will just make things difficult in the long run. Jumbalihya  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 51 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Artwork, Strong Message May 21, 2001
Format:Paperback
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.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Story grows on you April 22, 2000
By lilian
Format:Hardcover
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Elicits Wonderful Langugage July 19, 2005
Format:Paperback
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Mixed-Up Chameleon, School Project October 23, 2002
Format:Paperback
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.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for the Classroom July 29, 2000
By A Customer
Format:Board book
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars awsome
great experience great book very happy kid she checked the mail every day had wanted this book for a very long time
Published 9 days ago by jessica mccall
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Books...Great Prices!!!
I have recently bought 5 Eric Carle books from Amazon. When I was teaching I owned all these books, but am repurchasimg them now for my grandchildren. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Janifer Slawson
5.0 out of 5 stars wanted the set and got most of them
Just what we wanted and will be perfect for my first grandson. I am sure that he will have many hours of happy times
Published 2 months ago by Martha W. Fowler
3.0 out of 5 stars Message isn't so clear.
I picked this book up for my boys after enjoying many of Eric Carle's books. It's still in our library (unlike the Grouchy Ladybug), but my boys don't gravitate towards it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. Byers
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book with a Message
My almost 3 year old likes this book and I enjoy reading it to him. I like that we can talk about the picture on each page and he can pick out what "grew" on the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by M. ONeal
5.0 out of 5 stars The Mixed-Up Chameleon
It is a wonderful story on excepting yourself for who and what you are. I read it to my preschool classroom often but is a good reminder for all ages on excepting ourselves!
Published 3 months ago by Shana Crawford
2.0 out of 5 stars Horrible packaging
I love this book and got it for my preschool class. When it came in, it was bent in the middle. The packaging was very bad. If it wasn't 7$ I would send it back. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Suzzyq007
4.0 out of 5 stars Charming!
The moral of this one is straightforward and found in other books, but the clever illustrations made my almost 4yr old laugh out loud at just how absurd this chameleon started to... Read more
Published 4 months ago by CB
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful artwork
Bought for my little 2 year old grandson who loved this story of the chameleon and how it changes colors depending on its surroundings. And the pictures are beautifully done.
Published 4 months ago by Irene M Riches
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
Eric Carle's books are all lovely, and this one is a particular favourite of my grandson. I would recommend it
Published 6 months ago by Susan I. Williams
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