Q&A with History Channel host, author Brad Meltzer

Brad Meltzer is not only a host on the History Channel show, "Decoded," he's also a New York Times Best Selling author in multiple genres including thrillers, nonfiction, children's books and even comic books. Tonight, he will be speaking at Flyleaf Books about his latest children's book, "I Am Helen Keller." 

Meltzer spoke with Arts & Entertainment staff writer Kyley Underhill about his novels and his love for the everyday hero.

Daily Tar Heel: Why did you write “I Am Helen Keller”?

Brad Meltzer: I started these books because I was tired of my own kids looking at reality TV stars and loudmouth athletes and thinking, "That’s a hero." I told my kids that, "This is fame, and fame is different from being a hero." But the reality is I was just tired of society looking at these people and thinking that they are heroes. 

And as a society, I think we confuse fame with being a hero. They have nothing really to do with each other, except you know, what a publicist can pack into that. And as I started "Helen Keller," I just loved the idea of this little girl who should have failed. She should have been miserable, she should have been put away in an institution. But instead, she became one of the most amazing people of all time, and I knew there had to be an amazing lesson in that for all of us.

DTH: So your kids kind of inspired you to write this series of books. How else do your children influence your work?

Meltzer: I mean, in a strange, odd way, they just kind of released another genre for me. I really only tell stories for one audience, and that’s myself. And, obviously, even if it is for my kids, I have to tell the story that I love and I believe in. The only other way that my kids impact me on the thriller side is that it sort of makes me think twice before I write sex scenes in every book. I remember that my father-in-law once read one of my books and said, “You need more sex in this book.” And that’s the last thing you ever want your father-in-law to say to you. And I always used to joke that I would never write sex scenes until my grandmothers were dead because I knew that my grandmothers were always reading the books. So when they died, in the last book, “The President’s Shadow,” I finally got to write some part of a sex scene. And everyone was like “Wow, you’ve got sex in this one,” and I was like “Yeah, my grandmothers are dead.”

DTH: You write in quite a few different genres like thrillers, nonfiction and even comic books. How is writing for children different?

Meltzer: It really isn’t. A good story is a good story. The only difference is the vocabulary. You just watch yourself from using the big words, but as anyone who reads my thrillers knows, I never want to throw around 10-syllable words. It’s just silly to me on any level. 

So, for me, it’s really not that much of a difference. You just have to have a good story, and sometimes that story is in the form of a comic book, and sometimes that story is in the form of a thriller and sometimes that story is in the form of something like “I Am Hellen Keller.” And, to me, you just have to find the story that resonates. 

For me, if you look and see what they all have in common, the thing they have in common is my core beliefs. I believe ordinary people change the world. I don’t care where you went to school, I don’t care how much money your family makes — that’s all nonsense to me. I believe in regular people and their ability to affect change in this world. And that’s what every project I work on has in common.

DTH: Which genre is the most fun for you to write for?

Meltzer: Listen, it is really cool when I get to sit at my desk and write the letters B-A-T-M-A-N and I get to put words in Batman’s mouth. I’m so excited that day that I’m wearing my underwear on the outside of my pants. And I love that! I love that I get to write Batman, and I love that I get to write Superman, and even that I get to write Hellen Keller. But, for me, the thrillers that I write like “The President’s Shadow,” that’s the house that I build with my own hands. And you have an editor who makes sure you don’t drive the train too far off the tracks — but there’s nothing like building that house with your own hands.

DTH: Near the end of "I Am Helen Keller," there’s a line that says, “Go say thank you to that teacher who helped you when you needed it most,” and there’s a dedication that you wrote to your ninth grade English teacher. How did your teachers influence your life and your work? 

Meltzer: You know, I was the first in my family to go to a four-year college. I used to think growing up that you went through high school and then you got a job. And then my dad lost his job and we moved from New York to Florida. When I got to Florida, in ninth grade, my teacher Sheila Spicer, who this book is dedicated to, said to me, “You can write.” And she was the first person who ever told me that I was good writing, and it changed my life. 

And in fact, a decade later when my first book was published, I went back to her classroom to say thank you. I knocked on the door and I said, “My name is Brad Meltzer, and I wrote this book, and this book is for you,” and she started crying. I said, “Why are you crying?” And she said, “I am very tired this year because I didn’t think that I was having an impact anymore.” And I said “Are you kidding? You have 30 students and they have one teacher.” And I think sometimes we don’t really realize what our legacy is. I mean, this is a woman who changed my life, and she had no idea of her impact on me.

DTH: One thing that I noticed while reading “I Am Hellen Keller” is that even as she grows older and becomes an adult, Hellen Keller still looks very young and childlike. Is that a decision that the illustrator made or did you make that decision?

Meltzer: Well, this is part of a series, and we started with “I Am Amelia Earhart” and we did “I Am Abraham Lincoln.” We’ve done Jackie Robinson, Albert Einstein and even Lucille Ball. And in all the books, the hero stays young. And the reason is if you’re a kid reading this book — and I mean a second grader, third grader, fourth grader reading this book — what we’re trying to not-so-subtly tell them is that this person is no different than you. To me, that is a lesson for all of us. No one is born a hero. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t born a hero, Rosa Parks wasn’t born a hero and Hellen Keller wasn’t born a hero. We’re all born exactly the same, and then it’s what you do with your life. And that is the story, and you just have to write a great story. 

To me, what these books are really about is that they’re not the stories of famous people. They’re what we’re all capable of on our very best days. And each story begins with a story from when they were young. With Hellen Keller, it just happened to be that she did her amazing thing when she was younger, but you’ll see, Amelia Earhart built a homemade roller coaster in her backyard when she was seven. Abraham Lincoln, when he was 10 years old, was always helping animals that were being tortured. All these people, just like all of us, happened to do great things. 

You don’t have to be the president to that, you don’t have to break records to do that. That was my choice from the start — to always keep them young. To kids, Amelia Earhart and Abraham Lincoln are black and white figures from an old history book. They’re born and then they’re dead. When you show kids what they were like when they were younger, kids can suddenly relate to them and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, they’re just like me.” In fact, the best compliment we’ve gotten is that last year on Halloween, all these people were saying “Dear Brad, this is the first year my daughter didn’t go as a princess. Instead, she went as Amelia Earhart thanks to your book.” That’s why we keep them young, we want kids to love them as much as we do.

Another thing is that you notice in the group is that while I was growing up, Hellen Keller was always portrayed as this sad figure. She was someone that you felt should be pitied. Every time you would see her pictured she would look mopey and miserable as you thought someone who was blind and deaf should be. When I researched her, the artist started drawing all of these pictures of her looking and sad, like someone to be pitied, and I kept saying, “No, not like that.” And he’s like, “How do you want her drawn?” And I said, “She was someone who loved being outdoors. And she would race around and even ride horses because she could feel the sun on her face and she could smell the flowers.” And he wrote to me, “Oh, I get it. Exuberance.” And our goal with the book was to repaint how Hellen Keller is perceived by people. She wasn’t someone who wanted to be pitied, she was someone who was amazing and vibrant and alive.

DTH: Is there anything else you want to say to our readers?

Meltzer: For anyone who comes to the signing, you can bring comic books, you can bring thrillers, you can bring children’s books, you can bring body parts. We will sign them all.

@KyleyUnderhill

arts@dailytarheel.com