Heroes for My Son (11 page)

My grandfather.

H
e was bald.

 

He had flat feet.

 

And he was just a cutter, spending long days slicing fabrics in the garment center.

 

But he was my grandfather.

 

Your great-grandfather.

 

And when I was your age, he used to tell me stories about Batman, simply because he knew how much I loved Batman stories.

 

He made up those stories just for me, inspiring me to be a writer.

 

Which is why, Jonas Benjamin, I named you after him.
*

your hero's

photo here

your hero's story here…

There are many heroes in this world. Far more than we could fit in one book. If you have a hero, please share your story with us. Your hero could be someone everyone knows or someone only you know. We'd love to hear, for instance, about the teacher or mentor who made a difference in your life.

So please send your story to:

 

[email protected]

 

or to

 

Brad Meltzer

20533 Biscayne Boulevard, #371

Aventura, FL 33180

 

To see even more of what you can do, please visit: www.OrdinaryPeopleChangeTheWorld.com and www.HeroesForMySon.com.

Grateful acknowledgment is given to the following sources for photographs in this book:

 

Jacket photograph © Richard Mallory Allnutt 2008, www.rmallnutt.com

 

Neil Armstrong © NASA Johnson Space Center Collection, George H. W. Bush © George Bush Presidential Library, Roberto Clemente © Jim Hanson, Clara Hale © Hale House, Jim Henson © Bernard Gotfryd, Barbara Johns © Robert Russa Moton Museum, Teri Meltzer and Ben Rubin © Brad Meltzer, Andy Miyares © Miyaris Family/Special Olympics Florida, Jackie Robinson © National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY, Eleanor Roosevelt © Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Eli Segal © Phyllis Segal, Officer Frank Shankwitz © Frank Shankwitz/Make-A-Wish Foundation, Team Hoyt © Team Hoyt Foundation, Dan West © Heifer International, Oprah Winfrey © Charlie Knoblock/Associated Press

 

Corbis Images: Paul Newman © Bettmann, Barack Obama © Obama for America/Reuters, Steven Spielberg © Steve Schapiro

 

Getty Images: Lucille Ball © Michael Ochs Archives, Norman Borlaug © Art Rickerby/Time & Life Pictures, Charlie Chaplin © American Stock, Albert Einstein © Ernst Haas, Mahatma Gandhi © Apic, Lou Gehrig © Transcendental Graphics, Miep Gies © Anne Frank Fonds-Basel/Anne Frank House, Aung San Suu Kyi © Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP, John Lennon © Chris Walter/WireImage, Nelson Mandela © Jurgen Schadeberg, Mother Teresa © Mark Edwards, Chesley B. Sullenberger III © Pool

 

Library of Congress: Bella Abzug—LC-DIG-ppmsc-03683, Frederick Douglass—LC-USZ62-15887, Harry Houdini—LC-USZC4-3277, Jesse Owens—LCUSZ62-27663, Dr. Seuss—LC-USZ62-116956, Anne Sullivan—LC-USZ6-2244, Harriet Tubman—LC-USZ62-7816, Mark Twain—LC-USZ62-112728, The Wright Brothers—LC-W861-111

 

New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress: Muhammad Ali—LC-USZ62-137782, Amelia Earhart—LCUSZ62-119130, Martin Luther King Jr.—LC-USZ62-111164, Harper Lee—LCUSZ62-121597, Pelé—LC-USZ62-120850, Jonas Salk—LC-USZ62-92227

 

National Archives: Thomas Jefferson—ARC Identifier 535935/Local Identifier 208-PU-104HH(4), Abraham Lincoln—ARC Identifier 527823/Local Identifier 111-B-3656, George Washington—ARC Identifier 532939/Local Identifier 148-GW-1073

 

Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel © Joanne Siegel, copy in the Special Collections Research Center, Kelvin Smith Library, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

 

Mr. Rogers © Robert Lerner, photographer, LOOK Magazine Collection, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-L9 69-5151-kk

Special thanks to Andy Miyares and the entire Miyares family, Special Olympics Florida, Officer Frank Shankwitz, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Arizona, TeamHoyt.com, the family of Jim Hanson, Bernard Gotfryd, the legendary Robert Lerner, Joanne Siegel, Laura Siegel Larson, Norma Sue Hanson and everyone at Case Western Reserve University's Kelvin Smith Library, Bradley Ricca, Heifer International and the people at Heifer.org, Nick Raposo for sharing his dad's song, Alexis Soto and everyone at HaleHouse.org, and my friend Phyllis Segal.

 

There are many heroes in my life. But my favorite ones are my little ones—my children—Jonas, Lila, and Theo, who are the three reasons this book exists. They teach me every day; they inspire me every day—and they are my truest dreams. My other hero is my wife, Cori, who gave me my greatest gifts and was the very first to believe. Thank you to my dad, who fed my love of heroes by buying me all those comic books. And thank you to my sister, Bari, for her super strength; to Noah Kuttler for his super hearing (and who pushed me so hard with this one); and to Teri Meltzer and Ben Rubin, my mother and Poppy, for giving me everything else I needed and in whose memory this project lives.

For me, this has never been just a book. It is a dream. So special thanks to Jill Kneerim, who shoved me along from the very first slumber; Hope Denekamp, Caroline Zimmerman, and everyone at the Kneerim & Williams Agency; my dear friend Larry Kirshbaum, the real godfather of this project; Simon Sinek, who told me my first inspiring story; Joel Marlin, who added the earliest research; Marie Grunbeck for reading my mind; Rusty Greiff and Elizabeth Shreve for sharing their sweet boy; Richard Mallory Allnutt for the cover photo; Katherine Blood from the Library of Congress; Chris Weiss, who inspired the first question; Rob Weisbach, the first to have faith; and all the real heroes who shared pictures and family stories.

A special thank you must also be said to my fellow dreamer and partner-in-crime, Brad Desnoyer, whose research made me really look like the history nerd I've always pretended to be. His contribution here cannot be overstated, but it's his friendship that is treasured.

Finally, a thank you to Katie Salisbury, Kathryn Ratcliffe-Lee, Debbie Stier, Jessica Wiener, Kim Lewis, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, Mary Schuck, Nikki Cutler, Doug Jones, and everyone at HarperStudio, for creating such a warm second home in the writing community. And to Bob Miller, for building that home so beautifully. I mean it, Bob. Thank you for this gift that I can give to my sons—and for your trust and faith.

Jacket design by Mary Schuck

Jacket photograph by Richard Mallory Allnutt / www.rmallnutt.com