Book is anti-bully pulpit

DAYTON -- As a 10-year-old growing up in Canada, Fox Carlton Hughes was goofing around a friend's homemade science lab when a gallon jug of sulfuric acid blew up in his face.

As he rushed home on a bike, the skin on his face was peeling off.

His Christian Scientist mother ministered to his needs, and the pain soon disappeared. But it took two years for the scars to fade from his face, two years during which other children unmercifully ridiculed him about his appearance.

Hughes, however, found how to take advantage of his ordeal.

"All the shop owners felt sorry for me," Hughes said. "I never had to pay for ice cream. None of the kids who were with me had to pay for ice cream either. I have always had this underlying feeling that everything works out for the best. Nothing happens by accident."

Ovation Books in June published the 78-year-old author-illustrator's first book, "Rainbow Rhino," a children's book whose lead character, Homer, is teased by other kids because his tusk is five times the normal size. Homer eventually uses this tusk to save a rainbow from vanishing, becoming the Rainbow Rhino and a hero.

Hughes is a lot like his rhino character. He's a spiritual person who says his life has been filled with miracles, such as the time 40 years ago when he walked into a restaurant to beg for a meal and found $4 lying on the pavement.

Or 20 years later in San Francisco when he and his wife, Peggy Ann, were days from losing their rented house. An owner of an art business liked his portfolio but didn't need him for a couple of months. Still, he wrote Hughes an advance check for $3,000.

Hughes can tell dozens of similar stories of good things happening to people when they believe they will. He illustrates that view in referring to Homer: "When he put his own problems to one side and made a kindly effort to help others, everything flowed to him. Don't wallow in self-pity."

"Rainbow Rhino" is his first book. The publisher has written the book for children 4 to 8, but Hughes says it is a tale for people of any age.

The book can be found in most larger bookstores, or ordered online. Hughes estimates it has sold 4,000 copies, but soon might sell many thousands more.

The French government has embarked on a program under which all school students must learn to read, write and speak English. His was the first children's book selected under a trial program to choose books for classrooms there.

Thirty of the 32 responses to his new book from readers on the Amazon.com Web site have been positive. His publishing company has ordered nine more children's books.

He attributes some of the book's success to the anti-bullying movement spreading through the nation in response to shootings in schools.

"'Rainbow Rhino' just popped into my head. It wrote itself. I have been getting all these calls from radio stations asking me to talk about bullying. I had no such agenda in mind when I wrote this story."

But he has been overjoyed by the response. At a recent book fair in Minden, he cried and hugged a young girl who tearfully told him of the taunts she has faced from nasty children. "I told her she was beautiful and not to let what they say prevent her from believing that."

What he has learned about bullying is that children who say mean things come from loveless families. "A child's confidence, self-esteem and sense of self cannot be acquired if love is not present."

Hughes isn't surprised to find success in a new profession at an age when most people have retired. His life never has been normal.

A high school dropout, he took up illustration and animation at 55. His jobs included making models for the "Gumby" television show and illustrating picture books such as "Johnny Appleseed" and the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" for Walt Disney.

Earlier he sold real estate in Palo Alto, Calif., and San Diego and drew images used in May Co. newspaper ads. In recent years, he turned to abstract art and computer-generated poster art.

Four years ago he and his wife, a voice teacher, moved to Dayton, just east of Carson City, so they could be closer to some of their children. Between them, they have eight children, 12 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

The lithe Hughes bounded from room to room in his tract home in the rapidly growing city east of Carson City, looking for books and illustrations. He isn't one prone to stacking everything in neat order. Peggy tells him where to look. All the while, he tells stories, laughs and amplifies on his don't-worry-be-happy outlook on life.

The key to a happy life, Hughes says, is "the law of attraction." Under this so-called New Age philosophy, your thoughts determine what you become. "If you put negativity into your subconscious, then you are going to have a negative outlook."

Hughes figures he will spend the next four or five years writing and illustrating children's books. Next up is "Dissatisfied Witch," winner of an honorable mention prize from Writer's Digest.

Then he might try editing out all the negative parts of the Bible, or start a newspaper that publishes only positive stories. "I am just getting started. I will live to be 104 at least."

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or (775) 687-3901.