Jabbar was one of the best basketball players in history. He was the NBA's most valuable player six times and a 19-time All-Star. When he retired in 1989 he was the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. That record has still to be broken.  After retirement, Jabbar began scoring in the literary world. He has written seven bestselling books. In his new children's book What Color is My World?, he shines the spotlight on African-Americans inventors whose achievements often went unnoticed. A reporter recently interviewed him in New York City.   R: The title of your new book is What Color is My World, but the subtitle is The Lost History of African American Inventors. Why do you say it's a lost history? K: African-American inventors made some very significant contributions to American life and world culture, but they're not acknowledged. So I think I should put something in the spotlight.  R: Why did you choose to present this information in the form of a children's book? K: I thought kids, especially African-American kids, needed to know this information. They should get this information at an early age so that they can have an idea of what's possible. So many kids are told that sports and entertainment are the fields that they should go into, and everything else is ignored. I wanted to put something out there that gave them a broader picture of what is possible.  R: How did you combine facts with a good story? How did you decide on which inventors to include? K: The inventors I chose all made significant contributions to American life. So, everybody likes ice cream, but nobody knows about the guy who invented the ice-cream scoop . Everybody likes potato chips, but nobody really knows that a black cook invented potato chips. Things like that get through to people because these are things that are a part of their everyday life. Once they see black people were involved in inventing it, it changes things. What did Jabbar intend to tell Afican-American kids in his book?
Information about their early age. Fields they shouldn't go into. Things than can be ignored. Ideas of what is possible.