A Color of His Own

A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
1975

     I grew up reading Leo Lionni books and getting lost in his beautiful illustrations.  I had Frederick and Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse at home, but I hadn't read A Color of His Own until my son got it as a gift when he was a baby.
     All animals have a color of their own: "elephants are gray", "pigs are pink", "parrots are green"...all but the chameleon who changes colors all the time.  And he doesn't like it anymore, he wants A Color of His Own.  He decides to stay on a leaf so that he can be green forever.  The problem is that as the season change, the leaf changes color and with it, so does the chameleon.  Sad and "black in the long winter night" chameleon waited alone.  When spring came he found another chameleon and told him his "sad story": "Won't we ever have a color of our own?"  The other chameleon, who was older and wiser, explained that they will never have a color of their own, but it they stayed together, they will change at the same time and always share their special colors. And so they lived happily ever after.
     A Color of His Own is a sweet story of friendship and companionship.  It's a nice way of introducing colors and seasons to the youngest ones at home, so I highly recommend the boar book edition.