It’s a happy world

The Decatur Book Festival Labor Day weekend featured dozens of authors at various stages in their careers. Perhaps the youngest was 7-year-old Decatur resident Myles Shulman.

Myles, a second-grade pupil at Laurel Ridge Elementary who also illustrated the work, presented his book Make the World Happy! on the children’s stage on Aug. 29, to second- and third-graders who were bused to the festival from local schools as part of the festival’s opening day tradition.

Banker Judy Turner, a member of the festival board of directors, learned of the book and squeezed it in as a last minute addition to the Decatur Book Festival.

 “Myles has always enjoyed creating stories and telling them to us,” explained his mother, Zoe Haugo. “He loves to draw and as he draws pictures he tells the story behind the picture. His dad [physician and author Neil Shulman] suggested that we help Myles turn one of his stories into a book. This became our spring break project.”

The book was produced as a PosterBook, a copyrighted concept created by Neil Shulman, who has written more than 30 books, including the novel that became the major motion picture Doc Hollywood. As with other PosterBooks, this one was designed to teach life lessons. Through the story of an elephant that’s having so much fun spraying water that he doesn’t notice how the water spray is annoying a cat, Make the World Happy! offers readers advice about conflict resolution and controlling anger. Novelist Carl Hiaasen said the book is “funny, touching and very, very wise, whether you’re 70 or 7.”

Dr. Shulman has created PosterBooks on the dangers of smoking, how to behave when stopped by the police and other issues. Each of the books opens into a poster that can be displayed to remind people of the book’s message.

Haugo, called it ironic that Myles should become an author as such a young age. “He has some learning disabilities that have made language more of a challenge for him than it is for most children. Writing this book has been a big help to him as well as a big confidence booster,” she said.

Working on the book became a big mother-son bonding experience, according to Haugo, who created “comments by Mom” sprinkled throughout the story. “We could have done a lot of things together while Myles was on vacation, but I don’t think anything could have brought us closer than creating this book,” she said.

The book debuted in Haugo’s native Canada, where Myles held a book signing at a large bookstore in Kingston. He also was on radio there, where his message was, “Hey guys, do you want to be nice? Be nice to each other. Do good things. Be happy. Think of others. Do all the things you want to do. Learn about all people. Be like Cat, Dog and Elephant at the end of my book. My book is called Make the World Happy! It turns into a big poster.”

The Canada book signing event was a fundraiser for a local food bank and that’s in keeping with the vision Haugo and Shulman have for their child’s project. “We want to offer it to nonprofits at a very low price so they can sell copies to raise money,” Haugo explained. The book was published by RxHumor, a publishing company owned by husband-and-wife team Schulman and Haugo.

Among the young author’s experiences has been teaming with Naomi King, sister-in-law of Martin Luther King Jr., and author of AD King and ML King: Two Brothers Who Dared to Dream, in a joint book presentation. Haugo noted that each of the books is designed to inspire readers to work toward creating a happy world. “The common message embodied in these two works will appeal to a wide age spectrum,” she said.

Haugo said she hopes that in addition to spreading a positive message and being a source of funds for nonprofits, she hopes the book will inspire other youngsters to tackle similar projects. “It’s a great tool for empowering children to express their creativity and building their self-esteem,” she said.