Ah ah ah! I have a new favorite book series. I stumbled across it while doing research for my MLK, Jr. Day post (I am Brave: A Little Book About Martin Luther King, Jr.)
It turns out that the ‘I am Brave’ book is part of a series called Ordinary People Change the World. The series features biographies of famous people who changed the world. Each hero/heroine features a quality such as kindness, bravery, discovery, and leadership.
Some of the “ordinary” people include Gandhi, Helen Keller, and Jackie Robinson.
The books are written by New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos. Fun fact about the author, he helped find the missing 9/11 flag that firefighters raised at ground zero with his History Channel television show Brad Meltzer’s Lost History. He also writes some pretty good adult books if you’re interested!
The core theme in these books is that ordinary people can change the world. Brad Meltzer has said that he was inspired to write this book series because of a lack of good role models. Our society focuses more on fame than character. Reality TV stars and people who are famous for being famous are some of the new heroes that kids (and adults!) look up to. I’m sure that these new heroes have good and bad character traits just like anyone else, but I love the idea of how these books presents our children with real people, who did real great things.
What I especially like about the Ordinary People books is that they focus on the heroes character traits. For example, Harriet Tubman features bravery, and Jane Goodall features kindness. I think that inspires kids to aspire to those same character traits, and also shows kids that they don’t need a superhero cape to be a great person.
The series has two different versions: the kid’s books are meant for ages 5-8, and the board books are abridged versions aimed towards the littler ones ages 2-5. I have the board book versions and I think the regular books will start to hold my daughter’s attention in a couple years. The regular books also have pictures and a timeline of the persons history in the back.
This past November PBS Kids released a TV series based on the Ordinary People series called Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum. The show follows the adventures of Xavier Riddle and his friends as they face a problem in each episode and must turn to the Secret Museum to help them solve it. The Secret Museum allows the friends to travel back in time to meet real-life historical figures when they were kids. If your kids like history or biographies they would love this series!
The book series website is Ordinary People Change the World if you want to visit. They have some great information and printable activities for kids.
Here’s a quote from their site, and yeah, it’s a little cheesy, but what a great message.
“It’s our dream for our daughters. Our dream for our sons. Our dream for all of us who need to see the power of an ordinary person…And the power — and potential — in each of us. Together, we’re building an army of smart children, arming them with lessons of compassion, kindness and justice. Come join us for the ride.”
