In 2014, bestselling author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos published the first book in their “Ordinary People Change the World” series, “I Am Amelia Earhart.” That was 12 years ago, and next week, the two will unveil their 40th book in the series, called “We Are the Wright Brothers.” On Tuesday, Oct. 6, they head to the tiny Massachusetts town of Plainville, where there’s a popular bookstore called An Unlikely Story Bookstore and Cafe. Meltzer returned to GBH’s Henry in the Hub. The following interview is slighted editing for clarity.
Henry Santoro: The Wright Brothers captivated your interest a long time ago, right?
Brad Meltzer: These brothers are the reason why we have this series, because when my son was born 24 years ago, my friend Simon Sinek told me this amazing story about the Wright brothers. And every time the Wright brothers would go out to fly their plane, they would bring enough extra materials for multiple crashes. Which means every time they went out, they knew they would fail and they would crash and rebuild and crash and rebuild. And that’s why they took off. And I love that story. I wanted my sons to hear that story. I wanted my daughter to hear that story. I wanted everyone to know if you dream big and you work hard and you have a good side order of stubbornness, you can do anything in this world. And that’s why I started writing these kids’ books. And the Ordinary People Change the World series was built out of that first story. And here we are finally in the 40th book, getting to tell their story.
Santoro: Did you ever fathom 40 books coming out?
Meltzer: The crazy part is, and this will show you what a lunatic I am, yes. Because when I went to sell the books and I went to the publisher, they said, “Oh, how cute, you want to give your kids better heroes to look up to with two books — ”I’m Amelia Earhart“ and ”I’m Abraham Lincoln.“ And I looked them straight in the face in that very first meeting and I said, ”I have no interest in writing just two books. I want to write 100.“ I said, ”I want to build a library so people can teach their kids lessons of kindness and perseverance.“ And to their credit, they didn’t laugh me out of the room. I’m slow, but I’m determined.
Santoro: But you also write everything. You’re writing comic books, you write thrillers, you write college speeches. I mean, you’re just a writing machine.
Meltzer: Well, you know, what I am — I wish I was as fast as I could be, but what I am is I’m a passion machine.
Santoro: The book pub date is Tuesday, Oct. 6 and that’s also the day that you and your illustrator, Christopher Eliopoulos, will be in the little town of Plainville, Massachusetts, at a very popular bookstore called An Unlikely Story Bookstore. And that bookstore is owned by a very dear friend of yours who goes by the name of Jeff Kinney.
Meltzer: Yes. He is my wimpy kid brother. I have to say of all my friends in the entire publishing community, Jeff is my closest friend. And always has been. We’ve traveled to Africa together to find water wells for kids that have no fresh water. My kids have traveled with him. My wife has traveled with him there. I’ve traveled with his whole family there. And for years now, we’ve been to the White House together for the Easter Egg Roll. We’ve been to the White House together for trick-or-treating together when they invited us to read stories. And no one loves giving more than Jeff Kinney and I do. When you come to see us at his beautiful bookstore, which I’ve been to before, you will see us talking. You will see us laughing, but you will also be seeing us try to embarrass each other in a contest of champions.
Santoro: Thank you Brad. For ticket information, visit the website of “An Unlikely Story” in Plainville. I’m Henry in the Hub, and this is GBH.
