Brad Meltzer Releases Latest Hero Biography For Kids; Join Us For a LIVE Q&A With the Author

It's been three years since we last caught up with Brad Meltzer, and in that time, the New York Times bestselling author and host of Brad Meltzer's Decoded on the History Channel has been busy. Very busy. While his conspiracy-based political thrillers continue to be must-have reading for grown-ups — his latest, The President's Shadow, is a Summer must read — it's his children's books that are making waves in the parenting world.

The Ordinary People Change the World series is made up of six short, illustrated biographies designed to introduce real-life heroes to a new generation of readers. The series was born out of a shopping venture he took with his daughter three years ago. "All I could find were clothes with princesses on them. I was tired of my own kids looking at reality TV show stars and thinking that's a hero . . . I said, 'I have so many better heroes in history that I can give them.'"

The latest book in the collection — which already includes Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Jackie Robinson, and Rosa Parks — is I Am Lucille Ball. Asked why he chose the star of I Love Lucy, Brad writes, "I wrote this book because I wanted my daughter to finally have a female entertainment hero who wasn't famous just because she was thin and known only for her looks. Lucy is different than everyone else. She's funny, driven, and the first woman to run a major movie studio (producing Star Trek and Mission: Impossible). Her success came from her drive — and because she so perfectly wasn't like everyone else. Plus she taught me, throughout my own childhood, that humor can take on anything. I wanted my daughter to learn that."

That's a message we can all support! But that's not all! Brad will be joining us LIVE on our Facebook page today at 3 p.m. EDT for a Q&A. Join us there to ask him anything about future heroes he hopes to write about, how he juggles writing adult and children's books while raising his kids, and more! And read on for a sneak peek at I Am Lucille Ball.