I Color Myself Different

Athlete and civil rights activist Kaepernick turns a formative elementary school event into a celebration of personal identity in this autobiographical picture book debut. A young Colin, with brown skin and sparkling eyes, aims a confident grin at the reader before indicating that “I don’t know too many kids who look like me, which makes me supercool.” In an energetic, assured voice, he tells the story of choosing a brown crayon to color himself in a drawing of his family, only to be surprised by classmates’ intrusive queries: “Why are you the only brown one in your family?!” A flashback shows Colin asking his blond adoptive mother similar questions and reflecting on how “having brown skin and being adopted made me special,” just like his heroes, among them Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, and Malcolm X. Using formal portraiture, Wilkerson closely details the digital likenesses of Colin, his family, and his social justice pantheon, while blurring settings and workmanlike representations of secondary characters. Unabashedly message-oriented and uplifting (“I color myself different! I’m me and I’m magnificent!” Colin chants), this personal celebrity-activist story rejects self-doubt in favor of expressions of courage and pride. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)