Come Out, Come Out, Chameleon!
Jonty Howley
Happy Yak

“I have a pet chameleon,” announces the white-haired man standing outside his home on the first spread. Beside him is his dog whose gaze is directed towards a rooftop weathervane whereon, as observant readers/listeners will see, is said chameleon. Turn over and the chameleon’s owner tells us, “The only thing is … I’ve never actually seen him.” Surely this guy needs new specs.

He continues sharing with us his possible sightings, each of which he immediately dismisses: “I thought I caught a glimpse of him among the flowers. But it must have been a trick of the light.”
All the while the chameleon is hiding in plain sight: the dog can see it, so too can we readers. On one spread the creature is sitting in the fruit bowl disguised as a banana;

turn the page and he’s lurking among the socks strewn across the bedroom floor.

Audiences will delight in both the playful way the pastel illustrations contradict the words and the dog’s attempts to help the man spot his chameleon: canine body language and facial expressions speak volumes. Eventually the owner succumbs to the possibility that his chameleon doesn’t actually exist. This prompts the dog to come up with a way to solve the chameleon conundrum and hurrah! it works – for a while at least.

Brilliant interactive fun for the very young and their adult story sharers. The simple text also makes this a good book to offer children in the early stages of their reading journey