Chocolate Me!

The boy is teased for looking different than the other kids. His skin is darker, his hair curlier. He tells his mother he wishes he could be more like everyone else. And she helps him to see how beautiful he really, truly is.

For years before they both achieved acclaim in their respective professions, good friends Taye Diggs and Shane W. Evans wanted to collaborate onChocolate Me!, a book based on experiences of feeling different and trying to fit in as kids. Now, both men are fathers and see more than ever the need for a picture book that encourages all people, especially kids, to love themselves.

Taye Diggs is an actor whose credits include motion pictures (How Stella Got Her Groove Back andChicago), stage (Rent, Wicked), and television (Private Practice). He lives in Los Angeles and New York City with his wife, the actress Idina Menzel, and their son.

Shane W. Evans is the illustrator of numerous award-winning books for children, includingBlack Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson, and Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper's Daughter, winner of theBoston Globe-Horn Book Award. He lives with his wife and daughter in Kansas City, Missouri.