The greatest people in history all have one importantthing in common – they each started out as aregular kid . That ’ s the premise behind River Vale-based illustrator Chris Eliopoulos ’ saward-winning series of non-fiction children ’ s books , Ordinary People Change the World . Together with writer Brad Meltzer , Eliopoulos ’ s drawings bring these inspiring stories to life for bothhis littlest and biggest fans . “ We want kids to know that we can all be heroes , no matterwho you are ,” says Eliopoulos , 49 , of the series , which includes 11 books so far with two more being released this October .
The first two , IamAmelia Earhart and IamAbraham Lincoln , came out together in 2014 , hitting the New York Times best-seller listthe same day and establishing avast fan base that grows with each new release . Othersubjects range fromAlbert Einstein and Rosa Parks to Jackie Robinsonand Helen Keller . Eliopoulos drawseachbook ’ s subjectasachild so young readerscan relate to them more .
“ If kids see these heroes as children , they betterunderstandthat theywere
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just ordinary kids and really gain the morals of these books ,” he says . “ So we tell stories about their lives as kids and adults , but they ’ realwaysalittle kid throughout the book .”
Aside from that , the books are as historically precise as possible . “ A lot of research goes into this to make sure kids get the real deal ,” Eliopoulos says of the lengths he goes to to ensure his illustrations are accurate . “ We go to historians and the subject ’ s family , and do everything we can to make sure we ’ re telling the storyright .”
Eliopoulos has honed his skills since falling in love with comic books at age seven .
“ My uncleowned aremainder book company and my parents would take me to his warehouse on weekends , and I ’ d sit in giant metal bins reading pocket cartoon books all day ,” he says . “ Peanuts comics just did it for me and I ’ ve been drawingever since .”
As acollege senior majoring in advertising , Eliopoulos took afield trip to Marvel Comics and knew he belonged there . “ I applied for an internship , showed themmygraphic design materials and theytook me in . And when school ended Iwent to work at Marvel the next day .”
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Though he started in production , preparing books for print , he was soon moved to lettering , eventually becoming head of the department . “ Back then everythingwas done by hand , so I ’ d letter in the dialogue , put balloons around it and add sound effects , like ‘ Kapow ,’” Eliopoulos says .
Sensing that computers wouldbethe future of lettering , he built acompany to create hundreds of fonts that would ultimatelyletterall of Marvel ’ s books . “ Most every Marvel comic you see on the stands these days contains fonts I created .”
Despite his other work , Eliopoulos was always drawing on the side , whetherhewas contributing illustrationstoabelovedMarvel seriesor working on his own books and comic strips , including his award-winning graphic novel Cow Boy .
“ The comics industry is pretty small and everybody knows of each other ,” he says of connecting with Meltzer , a noted author , History Channel hostand comic book fan , on Twitter . “ Brad had written some one-page biographies to share withhis children , about heroes whose values they couldemulate . He emailed me and saidheloved my art
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COURTESY OF PENGUIN GROUP |
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26 APRIL / MAY 2017 | ( 201 ) FAMILY |
201magazine . com |