Charlie Chameleon and his friends are having trouble with Boris Bunny, the class bully. Charlie thinks Boris is putting on an act, but his friends disagree. Follow Charlie’s adventures as he helps Boris learn how to be a friend.
These multicultural stories are intended for second and third grade students as well as advanced first graders to read independently. Children ages three through nine will enjoy the antics of the characters in the Charlie books. To the author’s surprise, these books are being enjoyed by a wider audience than expected.
Reading the series helps children develop empathy and cultivate insight into their lives. The stories cover situations children typically encounter like getting lost, moving, starting a new school, making friends, family vacations, working in a team, and dealing with bullies using a positive method.
The animals possess human characteristics. Charlie Chameleon takes Frankie the fish wherever he goes. If the fish in Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat represents the Superego, Frankie, one of the feistier characters in the series, is all Id. Frankie wants everything, and he wants it right now.
Each chapter ends with one or more activities for children and parents or teachers to do together, related to the actions in the stories.
Excerpt
Charlie and Gary walked from one exhibit to the next to find Mrs. Grey’s class.
“Frankie, what does the map say? How do we get to the gift shop?” Charlie asked as Frankie tried to read the map.
“Forward, ho!” Frankie piped as Charlie and Gary ran down the hall.
SCREECH!
They stopped moving in a dark room. Their eyes widened when they saw creatures swimming all around them.
“Where are we?” Gary asked.
“This isn’t the gift shop!” Frankie whispered, scared at the size of the sea creatures.
Charlie grabbed the map from Frankie. “Frankie! The map was upside down! We went the wrong way. This is Creatures of the Deep Sea.”
“Well, don’t look at me! Who gives a fish a map anyway?” Frankie said, crossing his fins.
“Wow, Frankie,” Charlie said as he looked around. “This is your family. They’re all swimmers like you!”
“Oh yeah!” Frankie said, splashing water with his tail.
“Grandpa Chameleon told me about ancient creatures of the sea. He had some scary stories. I’ve never seen these creatures before . . .” Charlie’s voice trailed off.
Charlie and Gary heard a small, scared voice.
Professional Reviews
Reviewed By Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite
The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon: School Days by Ellen L. Buikema isabout how Charlie Chameleon and his friends are being bothered by theschool bully, Boris Bunny. Through the stories, readers get to see howCharlie helps Boris to change and become a friend. Charlie's adventureswith his pet fish, Frankie, and all his activities are fun-filled andevery story and character in the book teaches something to youngreaders. All the characters are relatable, tangible, and funny, and theactivities at the end of each chapter will help readers enjoy the book.
Whether it is Charlie's trip to the museum, or Charlie having cookies on a snowy day, or being sick, or the afternoon science class, childrenwill love the way Charlie handles things and his antics will put a smile on their faces. All the activities mentioned in the book can be triedout and kids will enjoy doing the experiment and also making cookies.The illustrations are cute and funny; they breathe life into the scenesand the characters, and make them vivid. It's an excellent book forinteractive sessions in classrooms and school libraries, and parents and grandparents can use it as a bedtime storybook to read out to theirkids and grandkids.
All the stories deal with situations that happen in our daily lives andCharlie shows readers how to deal with these events. The stories alsoshow parents the importance of using humor while communicating withtheir children.
Best Book Ever
My name is Maxwell and I am 9 years old. My grandma let me read, The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon: School Days, by Ellen Buikema. I read her first book, The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon: New Beginnings and really liked it.
I liked the fact that they did science experiments with raisins, soda and cups. I thought it was funny that a bully was bullying the bunny bully and then the little fish that the chameleon had shook a can of soda and sprayed the bully that was bullying the bunny. I didn’t like the rabbit bully. I really liked her books because of the activities at the end of the chapters. It’s a really nice book and it is funny. I think everyone should get it.
Maxwell
Cleverly written and positive tale
This is a fun and educational story, with all the usual school issues touched upon, but not preached about. The characters are all various animals. When you read the story you will see the auhor made really good use of personification, drawing similes between the behaviour of children and animals in a funny way. The illustrations are simple, inobtrusive and helpful, and my daughter liked them. Each chapter brings us a different school day, but all are linked with an unusual friendship developing.
What kid doesn't like going on a school trip and being with friends out of school? Placing the school trip in a museum, the author will certainly draw attention to biology and history, and using animals as characters helps the children relate and raises their interest in various animal species' origin and behaviour.
Baking cookies together with your friends, and chocolate ones on top of all? Another thing everyone loves to do. I enjoyed the little hints the author leaves for us to see the bully Boris has issues of his own, and the way she makes Charlie eager to treat Boris as a friend. Certainly encourages positive behaviour! When Charlie gets ill, every parent will recognize the phases, so the story lends itself to being read by the child alone or with a parent.
The science experiment chapter reminded me of the rare fun lessons in biology and chemistry we did, and how much experiments and team work really help children learn about life and each other.
The interactive activities after the chapters are interesting, simple and fun, and children will definitely enjoy them. I was looking forward to predicting them!
All the characters are likeable and the book sends a very positive message, allowing for mischief, skirmish and curiosity as natural part of growing up. It is a clean read which promotes friendship and learning, which will certainly make me recommend this story to educators and parents working with children from about 5 to 10 years old.
Busy Body provides a unique way of ministering to Christian youths. It introduces young readers to Christian values and principles and teaches them the significance of these standards and beliefs.
If ever there was a time for a Children's Ministry
This book was written for children to stress the importance of being able to choose who gets to hug or touch them and being able to say NO if they don't want to be hugged or touched.
