A decade ago, best-selling thriller writer Brad Meltzer had a brilliant idea for children’s books: an ongoing series on famous people as youngsters.
Titled “I Am” followed by the name of the famous person and the subtitle “Ordinary People Change the World,” the books show young readers how childhood shaped leaders. Meltzer calls them “heroes,” and has included a diverse group including presidents, Supreme Court justices, Civil Rights activists, sports figures, celebrities and more. The books have included stories about Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, Martin Luther King Jr., Dolly Parton, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Jim Henson, Mister Rogers, even fictional characters such as Superman.
The picture books are designed for ages 5 to 8 and are illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos.
In a South Florida Sun Sentinel interview a few years ago, Meltzer said his three children inspired the series launch. “I was so tired of my own kids looking at reality stars and big-mouthed athletes and thinking these were heroes. I wanted to show them that there is a difference between being famous and being a hero. And I am not alone in this as a parent,” he said. “We as a country are starving for heroes.”
The response to the children’s series has been overwhelming, with each landing on the New York Times Best Sellers List. But Meltzer had said that he is most proud of the letters, photographs and emails he receives from parents, teachers, librarians and children. Many young readers send him photographs of them dressed as one of these “heroes” holding the books for Halloween. “Many [readers] said they didn’t want to go as a princess but as Amelia Earhart or Rosa Parks,” said Meltzer, who lives in South Florida.
This is a series that any parent and school library would be proud to have on the shelves. The “I Am” series totals 53 books, which includes several gift sets and journals. Visit OrdinaryPeopleChangedtheWorld.com for more information on the series.
Meltzer and Eliopoulos will discuss the series and the latest book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at Barnes & Noble at University Commons Shopping Center, 1400 Glades Road, Boca Raton, 561-750-2134, and at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, 305-442-4408. Both events are free.
Meltzer and Eliopoulos also will be at the Jan.14 “Hometown Celebration” that will include an interactive fair at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center. Children will be able to play at 10 different stations that highlight people from the series. The author and illustrator will sign books, and Eliopoulos will lead a live drawing demonstration. The interactive fair is 2:30 to 5 p.m. Jan. 14 in the JCC’s Orlove Auditorium, 5850 S. Pine Island Road, Davie. Info at 954-434-0499, ext. 336, or . Adult tickets are $18 for members, $36 for nonmembers; children 12 and under receive free admission.
The Posnak JCC also is launching a Jewish Virtual Book Festival starting Jan. 29 and continuing through May. Visit .
Gearing up for Literary Feast
The Broward Public Library Foundation is gearing up for its premiere event, The Literary Feast in April, with several author programs.
The January Book With Brunch will feature South Florida author Diane Bergner discussing her debut novel, “Royal Coconut Beach Lunch Club,” described as a satirical glimpse into the high-stakes world of Palm Beach philanthropy. Bergner is the chief development officer at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, where she’s worked for 24 years.
The event begins at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 18 at Belmont Village Senior Living, 1031 Seminole Drive, Fort Lauderdale. It is free to foundation members at the $50 level and above. Cost is $25 for nonmembers. To register, visit or contact Nathan Elias at 954-357-7384 or .
New York Times bestselling author Victoria Christopher Murray will discuss her book “The First Ladies” during the foundation’s 14th annual LitLUNCH! at 11 a.m. Feb. 9 at the Lauderdale Yacht Club, 1725 SE 12th St., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets are $125 for individual tickets, which includes a copy of “The First Ladies.” Group tickets are available. For ticketing and event information, visit or call 954-357-7382.
“The First Ladies,” co-authored with Marie Benedict, explores the friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Black activist Mary McLeod Bethune, and how their alliance helped forge the Civil Rights Movement. The duo also authored “The Personal Librarian.” Murray also has written more than 20 novels, including “Stand Your Ground,” an NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Fiction and a Library Journal Best Book of the Year.
The foundation’s annual Literary Feast, nationally recognized as a top book event, will kick off with LitLIVE!, free panel discussions featuring the 13 authors who will be at the feast, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, in the auditorium at NSU Art Museum, One East Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Visit for more information.
The Night Of Literary Feasts begins at 5:30 p.m. April 13 starting with a reception in the Commodore Ballroom at Bahia Mar, 801 Seabreeze Blvd., Fort Lauderdale Beach, followed by private dinners with the authors. Tickets for the reception only are $75. Tickets for the dinners begin at $175. Visit for more information.
The foundation is launching its first Feast For The Mind Reading Challenge, a social media-based reading contest that begins Jan. 16 and continues through March, featuring books from the LitLIVE! participating authors.
The complete list of authors will be announced soon but here’s a sneak peek at those who have confirmed: Lisa Unger, “The New Couple in 5B;” Kristin Harmel, “The Paris Daughter;” Michelle Wildgen, “Wine People;” Lisa-Lutoff Perlo, “Making Waves;” Aida Rodriguez , “Legitimate Kid;” Leah Lax, “Not From Here.”
This is a competition in which registered teams will read specific books and, yes, there will be prizes. Visit for more information or to register a team, which requires a minimum of two people.
Palm Beach Writers LIVE! returns
The Palm Beach Library system’s popular Writers LIVE! program returns for its 16th year with a series of in-person panels and discussions with a variety of authors.
The program is held at several Palm Beach libraries and is free but registration is required as seating fills up quickly. Visit pbclibrary.org to register and more information.
Authors to date include Jonathan Santlofer, “The Lost Van Gogh,” Jan. 10 at the Glades Road Branch; James Grippando, “Goodbye Girl,” Jan. 17 at West Boynton Branch; Kate Alice Marshall, “No One Can Know,” Jan. 30 at Wellington Branch; Jeffrey Blount, “Mr. Jimmy from Around the Way,” Feb. 8 at Greenacres Branch; Hank Phillippi Ryan, “One Wrong Word,” Feb. 10 at Lantana Road Branch; Susannah Marren, “Maribelle’s Shadow,” Feb. 13 at West Boynton Branch; Allison Pataki, “The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post,” Feb. 21 at the Gardens Branch; Lisa Black, “The Deepest Kill,” Feb. 23 at the Main Library; Katherine Reay, “The Berlin Letters,” March 12 at the Okeechobee Boulevard Branch; Chris Pavone, “Two Nights in Lisbon,” March 27 at the West Boca Branch; Mary Kubica, “She’s Not Sorry,” April 6 at the Hagen Ranch Road Branch.
Author news
Two South Florida authors have professional milestones to celebrate during the new year. Coral Springs author Lisa Manuel, who writes under the name of Alyssa Maxwell, will be able to see her characters when the filmed version of her novel “Murder at The Breakers” airs as part of Hallmark Movies and Mysteries at 9 p.m. Feb. 2 on the Hallmark Channel, followed by streaming on Peacock.
The first novel in Maxwell’s Gilded Newport Mysteries series, “Murder at The Breakers” is set in 1895 Rhode Island where a society page writer witnesses a murder while attending a ball at the Vanderbilt mansion. She is drawn into the investigation when her brother is arrested. The movie will star Ali Skovbye, Danny Griffin and Nathan Witte. “Murder at the Breakers” will appeal to anyone who enjoys historical stories, especially those who devoured the HBO series “The Gilded Age.” (Count me among those: I am team Marian, Peggy and Ada.)
Maxwell has known about the television project for a while but was required to not talk about the movie. It was “about four years of uncertainty and anticipation.”
“Right before the pandemic, a producer toured The Breakers in Newport and found my book in the gift shop. He and his partner had been looking for a Newport project for years, and my book was in the right place at the right time. Things got going and it was very exciting, but with the pandemic, it often looked doubtful,” said Maxwell in an email. “Then, in late September, we got word that they would be filming in October! I wasn’t allowed to say anything, though, until Hallmark did, which happened [recently]. A really fabulous Christmas present!”
Maxwell has written 11 novels in her Gilded Newport series; the latest is “Murder at the Elms,” and eighth in her A Lady and Lady’s Maid series. Her 12th Newport novel, “Murder at Vinland,” comes out in August.
Fort Lauderdale author Elaine Viets will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award during the annual Malice Domestic conference, April 26-28 in Bethesda, Md. Malice Domestic, now in its 35th year, is a nationally known annual fan convention that celebrates the traditional mystery, described as typified by the novels of Agatha Christie. These mysteries contain no explicit sex, or excessive gore or violence.
Viets has written 12 Dead-End Job novels set in Fort Lauderdale, and 10 Josie Marcus mystery shopper novels and seven mysteries, plus a novella, in the Angela Richman, death investigator series, both set in Viets’ native St. Louis. Viets currently is working on a new series about a young woman who inherits her grandmother’s South Florida apartment building. “A Scarlet Death,” the eighth Angela Richman, mystery will be published April 2 as a hardcover and an ebook from Severn House.
Viets and Lyle Howard (“Terminal Justice”) will be the guest speakers during the annual Friends of the Helen B. Hoffman Plantation Library author luncheon at 11 a.m. March 16 at the Jacaranda Country Club, 9200 W. Broward Blvd., Plantation. Tickets are $50 per person, includes free valet parking. All proceeds benefit the library and its programs. A silent auction and a raffle also will be held. For reservations, pick up a form at the library or contact Jennifer Orkin at 954-399-3120 or .
Plantation Library goes home
After three years of rebuilding, the Helen B. Hoffman Plantation Library has moved back into the original library building at 501 N. Fig Tree Lane, 954-797-2140.
The library is planning its “Re-opening Celebration” from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 17 with local authors, crafts, refreshments, a story walk for children and more. The Plantation Historical Museum, adjacent to the library, also will open a new exhibit featuring the Florida Citrus Model Train Society.
Books & Books Literary Foundation
The independent bookstore Books & Books has launched its Books & Books Literary Foundation to further its mission to work against book bans.
In the past year, the bookstore has scheduled rallies, displays, a parade, book donations and other events against book bans. The foundation will allow the store to ramp up its work and will be able to receive donations and grants and “do more of what we do and extend our reach in other ways,” Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan stated in a press release. Books & Books has locations in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Bal Harbour and Pine Crest.
The Foundation intends, it states, “to use the power of literary culture to inspire our community by providing books and their authors to kids and communities hungry for stories that reflect their lives but for whom access is out of reach.”
Among the projects Kaplan said the foundation might focus on include a mentorship program for people who want to open bookstores; an internship program in publishing for minority students; book clubs as part of youth basketball leagues, among others. The Foundation has the tagline “Inspiring Community, One Story at a Time,”
New bookstore
It’s time to cheer when a new independent bookstore — really any bookstore — opens, especially when it comes with such solid credentials. Lauren Groff, whose novels “Arcadia,” “Fates and Furies” and “The Vaster Wilds” have been best-sellers, is planning to open an independent bookstore in her hometown of Gainesville. The Lynx will focus on writers of color, Florida, LGBTQ+ writers and books banned in Florida. The Lynx is scheduled to open April 1, will span 2,300 square feet in the South Main Station area of downtown Gainesville.
Oline H. Cogdill can be reached at .
