Basketball legend pens children’s picture book

Yesterday, you were a famous singer.

People around the world wanted to hear your voice. Concerts were sold out everywhere, and you signed so many autographs that you thought your fingers would break, but the best thing about it was performing onstage. Well, that, and when JLo called. That was pretty cool, too.

Of course, Mom always said you had a good imagination.

Maybe tomorrow, you can be a famous basketball star or, if you find "What Color is My World? By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld, illustrated by Ben Boos & A.G. Ford, you can read a book by one.

Ella and Herbie were not impressed with their new home.

Mama said to give it a chance. The place had potential, though it was dirty and kinda creepy. Things would change, Mama said, when Mr. Mital arrived. He was a handyman they'd met at church, and he'd help fix things up.

No doubt about it, Mr. Mital was a nice man, and he could sense that the twins were less than thrilled about their new home. He heard them grumble and grump, but he knew that Herbie and Ella were missing something important: this new house had history, and more.

Mr. Mital was a crafty one, and as he began telling the twins about things around their home, he was also telling them about African American inventors.

Take, for instance, light bulbs. Of course, the new house had them but without an African American inventor's work, Thomas Edison's light bulb might not light. And while the twins knew about Edison, without the "Black Edison," communication might be different, too.

Herbie and Ella loved their computers, but without Dr. Mark Dean, those devices might not be quite as useful. Movies and video games wouldn't be the same without Dr. Valerie L. Thomas' work, and race car driving changed because of James E. West. The way we eat, play, live and stay safe might all be different without African Americans.

So who was this mysterious Mr. Mital, who knew so much? Ella and Herbie couldn't believe what they found out

Got a kid with a variety of interests and a restless taste in reading? Then grab this book, because "What Color is My World" will fill a lot of slots.

Abdul-Jabbar is a big proponent of "standing on the shoulders of giants," and this book definitely reflects that. With his co-author Obstfeld, Abdul-Jabbar tells the story of inventors who learned from their predecessors -- both black and white -- and refined common, everyday things to make them more widely useable. In the process of this telling, the authors also mix in a little humor and trivia, a bit of mystery, and wonderful artwork by Boos and Ford.

I liked the variety of this book, its interactive presentation and the fact that imaginative children will find a lot to learn here. If your 7- to 11-year-old has a curious mind, in fact, then being without "What Color is My World?" will leave him blue.

View publishes Terri Schlichenmeyer's children's book reviews weekly.