Chameleon is green from the top of his scaly head to the tip of his scaly tail. Not red; not blue; just green.
He knows he should be able to change colour but no matter how hard he tries he can't do it. To make matters worse, all the creatures he meets want to see his clever colour-changing trick.
Let's join Chameleon on his jungle walk and find out if he can learn the secret that every chameleon should know: how to change colour!
Aimed at the four-to-eight-years age group, The Chameleon Who Couldn't Change Colour is the fourth of Gail Clarke's illustrated books for children. Since 2010, Gail has been presenting her books to children in schools in many parts of the world. She is assisted in her readings by glove puppets of Patrick the parrot and his Great-Grandpa Gilbert, and more recently Cosmos the Curious Whale has joined them. Some 35,000 children in Hong Kong, Phuket, Bangkok, Dubai, Kenya, Sri Lanka and England have now enjoyed learning about animal migration, writing and illustrating, and of course hearing Gail's stories.
During 2014, when Gail was still writing The Chameleon Who Couldn't Change Colour, she invited children in various schools she was visiting to draw chameleons to be included in the story. She was thrilled to receive a huge number of beautifully coloured drawings that she was able to include in this book. You can learn more about Gail and her books on her website at www.gailclarkeauthor.com
Clarke, Gail: - "Once upon a time I was a primary school teacher! After 28 years in a wonderful school in Hong Kong, I retired in 2004 and 'migrated' with my husband to Italy. This set me thinking about migration and animals that cover huge distances every year. With the help of my good friend Google I discovered lots of interesting facts about migration: which animals go where, how they find their way and which routes they take. Suddenly, BING! an idea popped into my head! What if an animal wanted to send a message to a relative thousands of miles away? Perhaps he could ask for help from the migrating animals. That was how it all began with my first book: Patrick's Birthday Message. On my writing 'journey' since I wrote 'Patrick', I have learned loads of amazing facts about animals, many of which have been the inspiration for my other six books. As well as writing, illustrating and publishing my books I love visiting schools, talking to children, and sharing my stories with them. I now live in England, Italy and Phuket, Thailand, but most years I also travel to Hong Kong and Kenya to see my family of four children and six grandchildren. Everywhere I go my favourite hobby is visiting schools whether they are huge international schools with hundreds of children in Hong Kong, Phuket, Bangkok and Sri Lanka, or tiny village schools in Kenya and England. Patrick loves to travel too and is very excited about his friends Pilot and Skye and Cosmos the whale going with him in the future. Questions children often ask me: Where do your ideas come from? Sometimes they just pop into my head! Sometimes they come from an article or book I've read, and sometimes when I'm researching facts for a story I discover a fact that's so incredible that I think, "I'll have to write a story about that!" How long does it take to write a book? Well, once I have an idea I can write the story in a couple of weeks - sometimes even faster but then I have to do the illustrations and that takes a lot longer! Why do you usually write in rhyme? I love rhyme and I love to make up funny or silly rhymes. My mum did too and so do my grandchildren so I think it runs in the family! Rhyme keeps the story really 'tight' and I can't waffle too much! Are you famous? No, but when I visit schools the children are so welcoming and I have such a fabulous time that I feel famous! There are lots more questions from children on my website at gailclarkeauthor.com, some of them very funny."
