Since he was little, Leon’s eyes have been stuck looking sideways, so he can’t see himself and never knows what color he is. Others are constantly telling him what he should be…blue, green, orange…but they contradict each other and change their minds.
How can Leon find out his true color?
How the story begins
Chameleons are wondrous creatures. They can change the color of their skin, and rotate their eyes independently in all directions. They can even look backwards! Or look up with one eye and down with the other at the same time.
But Leon the Chameleon was different. Somehow, when little Leon was still in his egg, his eyes got stuck looking sideways. His left eye always looked to the left and his right eye to the right.
This caused all sorts of problems. For one thing, Leon could never see his little brother sneaking up to scare him. And catching insects with your tongue is tricky if you can’t look straight ahead.
But Leon’s biggest problem by far was that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t look at himself to see what color he was. And if you’re a chameleon, this can make life pretty difficult.
During school breaks, the young chameleons would often play a game that goes like this: The chameleon in the middle of the circle suddenly shifts color and the others try to match that color as fast as possible. The last one to get it is out.
Leon never liked that game. But today Olivia was in the middle and all he wanted was to be near her. So he joined in.
Olivia changed to a beautiful turquoise, and Leon quickly tried to match her color. He was sure that he had it, but then Rusty yelled, “Look! Leon looks like a flamingo!” Everyone laughed.
“I’m sorry,” Leon said, “but I can’t see myself.” He wished he could disappear.
“Life is so complicated,” he thought.
How the story continues
In the remainder of the story, we hear how Leon learns to look within – beyond what others say – to uncover the truth of who he really is.
Leon’s Color Crisis is a story about discovering our authentic self amid the noise of the world.