Prism isn’t like the other chameleons in Chromaville. Unlike them, he can’t control his colors. When they swirl at the mayor’s speech, he is embarrassed, and thinks the other chameleons are laughing at him. When they swirl at a local bakery, though, the other chameleons start dancing because of the joyful atmosphere they create.
Later, while reflecting in a local forest, a wise old chameleon reminds him of the “joy and wonder” that his colors bring to the town, and suggest that they are a gift, not a problem. Prism then decides to attend the town’s Festival of Colors to show off his many hues. The townspeople cheer and the mayor thanks him for making this the best festival ever. Prism then realizes the joy and beauty his colors bring to the world, and no longer worries about controlling them. His colors make everyone smile—and he discovers other chameleons whose colors shift like his. They admire his fearlessness, and he realizes that he has given others the courage to let their colors show, too.
No, there’s not any clear LGBTQ representation in this book, but the publisher’s blurb says it has “subtle nods to gender diversity and the rainbow community,” so I’m reviewing it here. Sigh. The intent is admirable, but the execution feels weak. I advise adults who are considering this book to first read author Kyle Lukoff’s excellent article, “Trans Kids Deserve to See Themselves in Children’s Books,” in which he discusses the limitations of metaphor for talking about trans identities. Among other things, he writes, “Gender is how you move through the world, how you see yourself through other people seeing you, what you want and don’t want for your body, the lessons you learn about the genders you have and the genders you don’t, and what other people expect from you or demand of you or decide about you. It is not exclusively the thought processes that go on within your own discrete skull.”
It is most certainly not an uncontrollable bodily function, as Prism would have you believe. And it does not exist (and should not be celebrated) primarily for the joy it brings others, as this book also seems to indicate (although I am not sure that point was intentional).
More generally, as Lukoff writes, “It is wrong to force some kids to pierce veils of misdirection to get an approximate reckoning of their lives, while kids who mostly exist within a constellation of privileges can simply crack a book and see their realities reflected.”
This book offers a positive message in its way, perhaps a general message about self-acceptance, but there are ones that offer better and more relatable stories about trans and nonbinary people.
