Chocolate me!

Taye Diggs

Book - 2019

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 on Chocolate Me!, a book based on experiences of being African American, 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.

Saved in:

Bookmobile Children's Show me where

jBOARD BOOK/Diggs
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
Bookmobile Children's jBOARD BOOK/Diggs Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Children's stories Pictorial works
Board books
Published
New York, New York : Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan 2019.
Language
English
Main Author
Taye Diggs (author)
Other Authors
Shane Evans (illustrator)
Edition
First board book edition
Item Description
On board pages.
Cover title.
Physical Description
32 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 18 cm
ISBN
9781250207852
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Actor Taye Diggs remembers his childhood in a mostly white neighborhood with this sweet paean to self-love. A five-year-old boy finds hanging out with his white friends upsetting. When we'd play, they'd say, - Look where your skin begins! It's brown like dirt. Does it hurt to wash off?' Each one of these innocent, though uncomfortable, questions about the boy's hair, his wide nose, and his bright white teeth are met with a despondent illustration and the chorus: Chocolate me. The lack of exuberance these two words carries a carefully controlled tension, as if the boy has been through this before and a hatred of his own body is beginning to fester. Of course, a pep talk with his mother turns that morose refrain into a joyous exclamation, and soon he is happily cavorting with his less-chocolaty friends. Diggs draws emotion from simplicity, while Evans' visible brushstrokes in the boy's skin and in the spirals of his hair let the audience know that he is a beautiful kid, far before the kid himself figures it out.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

It's tough being the only African-American kid on the block. The young narrator's white acquaintances tease him ruthlessly about his name, his dark skin ("It's brown like dirt. Does it hurt to wash off?"), his wide nose, and his 'fro. It's enough to make any kid wish he were just like everyone else-until Moms offers just the right kind of comfort: "You have skin like velvet fudge frosting mixed in a bowl.... Cotton candy hair soft to the touch of my fingertips." The titular phrase is used like a refrain, initially a burden and later a celebration of self. Actor Diggs, making his children's book debut, gives an unvarnished take on the emotional impact of taunting that cuts to the core of one's identity, though not every reader will find satisfaction in the ending, in which the narrator is reconciled with his insensitive peers over chocolate cupcakes. But Evans makes the hero's journey to confidence irresistible, with bighearted, stylized pictures that draw on the emotionally exuberant vocabulary of street art and anime. Evans doesn't minimize the cruelty the boy suffers, but he makes it feel surmountable. Ages 4-8. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

Toddler-PreS--Actor Diggs's iconic ode to self-acceptance finds new life in board book format. An African American boy is mocked because of his skin tone, his hair, and his nose, but his mother reassures him: "Look in the mirror and love what you see!" Evans's beautifully chaotic, childlike illustrations convey the protagonist's angst, unease, and, finally, pride. With educators introducing conversations about microaggressions and privilege at younger and younger ages, this child-friendly and perceptive work is a must.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Dark-skinned children are more likely to be confused than comforted by this unvarnished esteem-builder.Looking sheepish and unhappy in the pictures but sounding angry, a young boy cites teasing comments from lighter-skinned peers about his skin color, hair and other features. "I squirmed and wiggled / as they giggled at my teeth so white. / 'You can be our flashlight at night. / Just smile and we'll be alright.' " The emotional skies clear, though, after his mother supplies both a pep talk ("Look in the mirror and / love what you see!") and a plate of chocolate cupcakes to share with his erstwhile tormentors. Evans, too, sends a mixed message in the ways he portrays the figures he poses against sketchy urban backdrops. Opposite the line about the narrator's "flashlight," the boy's teeth are both hardly visible (in contrast to the whites of his big, bright eyes) and colored a lower-contrast ivory to boot, and in several scenes his mouth is so inconspicuous and oddly placed that his nose might be mistaken for smiling lips. More troubling, to judge from their postures and expressions, the other children's mockery may come across to readers as just friendly banterparticularly in light of a final scene that is all frosting-smeared happy faces and mutual amityinstead of the hurtful words the narrator perceives.Self-worth is always worth bolstering, but the positive message here is clouded by muddled subtexts and visual cues. (Picture book. 6-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.