Unlike his quick-changing family members, Clyde the chameleon has trouble blending into his jungle environment. "When he sat on stones shiny and blue,/ He made his skin yellow. It's sad but it's true!" He despairs of matching the vermilion flowers and emerald-green leaves of his usual habitat, but when he accidentally loses his way in a man-made house, he realizes he must adapt or perish. "He hid in some buttons and then on a shoe,/ It was amazing, the matching that Clyde could now do!" Toy designer Benfanti makes his debut with this easy-on-the-eyes volume, also available as an e-book (at www.ipicturebooks.com). Stripy, smooth-skinned lizards make ideal subjects for his software-generated art and his tropical palette of rain-forest green and orchid pink. Yet the clunky rhymes don't scan ("Now Clyde wasn't slow, or even dumb,/ But when he tried to match colors,/ He stood out like a sore thumb"; and later, "Clyde could blend with any color, pattern, or trim—/ This was lots of fun, 'cause no one could see him") and the flimsy story seems strung together to showcase the sleek artwork. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)
