The Mixed-Up Chameleon

The Mixed-Up Chameleon is a picture book written and illustrated by the American author Eric Carle, published in 1975. It has been reprinted many times since.

The book begins with a chameleon on a leaf doing what chameleons do, which is catching flies and changing colour. Then he visits the zoo, where he sees one animal after another that has a feature he admires, and he wishes to have the best part of each of them for himself. There is nothing malicious in the wishes; he simply wants what he has seen. They are granted one at a time, and the chameleon accumulates a set of pieces that do not belong together, until he is a shape that nobody can identify and can no longer do any of the things he used to do.