I Want-a Black-a Jelly Bean! — Donald W. Kruse

Welcome to Colorville!--a strange but beautiful and peaceful land where everything is bursting with vibrant color: green clouds, yellow sky, red sun, purple grass, pink streets, red, white, and blue houses! Yes, everything in Colorville is bold and bright, except for their jelly beans, which are simply just black. But a boy named Jack is bored with black jelly beans; he craves colorful jelly beans. One day, Jack meets a strange-looking but kindly man named Professor Acka-Acka who comes from a land called No-No-a-Lacka where people have everything they could ever want, except for black jelly beans. Jack joins the professor on a journey inside the professor's capsule earth-drilling machine, travelling through the center of the earth toward No-No-a-Lacka. Along the way, they encounter some scary creatures in a dark, creepy cavern deep beneath the earth and are stopped dead in their tracks. But Professor Acka-Acka is well-prepared for such an emergency, and soon they arrive unharmed in No-No-a-Lacka where all the jelly beans are bursting with color! Jack learns that people who are different can unite and have everything they want or need, IF they share and work together. Readers of all ages will enjoy this fun-filled and sometimes scary story, with page after page of beautiful, full-color illustrations by professional illustrator, Aeryn Meyer. Foreword by Christian author, Marie Armenia (The Audacious Molly Bruno).