WALLBURG — A Davidson County mom and son writing team has proven it doesn’t take a lot of pages to get across a big message in their recently published children’s book, “Hunter the Dancing Fox.
“I want the message to be that they can find the thing they love and that they can be successful at it,” said Hunter Mikles, who is not only one-half of the writing team for the book, but whose life is also the inspiration for it.
The idea to write the book sprung from Hunter’s mom, Robin Gibson Mikles, a retired Davidson County Schools teacher and guidance counselor. She witnessed her son find a non-traditional boys activity he loved that turned into his career as a Broadway dancer in New York City. She watched as he was teased for his pursuit of dance, became discouraged when it got difficult, but also saw his perseverance to become a professional dancer.
“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work. He was teased for being a boy who took ballet, but he didn’t care, because he loved it. Even when it got hard, he kept moving forward because he loved it.”
During her years as a school counselor, Robin was tasked to offer career exploration sessions with her young students, and said it was never easy to find books about non-traditional careers. She thought writing her son’s story on a children’s level would be a good start of showing children other possibilities for careers. She started a rough draft, but work and life put it on a backburner. After her retirement in 2019, the book crossed her mind again. She got out the rough draft and finished it. She asked Hunter to look it over and make suggestions.
“He has a creative mind, and since he had a vested interest in the story and it was about him, I thought he could help,” said Robin who lives in the north eastern corner of Davidson County in and area annexed by High Point.
In the book, Hunter is a young Fox. He tries several activities such as soccer, swimming, karate, and video games. He likes all of them, but doesn’t really love any of them. One morning while watching TV, a short piece about a Piedmont ballet company performing the “Nutcracker” was shown. Hunter, the real one and the Fox in the story, were mesmerized as dancers, including several males, pirouetted, sautered and lifted women in the air. The real Hunter excitedly announced he wanted to be in the “Nutcracker, as does Hunter the Fox. Both found they love ballet. Even when it’s hard, even when they are teased, the real Hunter and the book character never stop. Eventually Hunter the Fio goes away to study dance in college and then moves to New York where he becomes a Broadway dancer, just like the real Hunter.
In reality, as soon as Robin Hunter saw her son’s excitement all those years ago, she made calls and found the High Point Ballet lead by Rita and Gary Taylor of Thomasville. Hunter began classes there within a week.
After writing and editing the book together, they decided on East 26th Publishing Co. in Houston, Texas, to publish the book. They worked with illustrators to bring the story to life through illustrations. The book is available on Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com for $15.99 plus tax and shipping. Robin is working with Pig City Books owner Sedley Abercrombie to be a part of the Lexington book store’s first Book Festival in March.
“I was all for her writing the book,” he said. “I kind of knew it was something she wanted to do. As a counselor, she always wanted to help and guide children.”
Added his mom: “We are so happy with how the book turned out with the characters and illustrations. It flows well. I want it to inspire anyone who reads the book to find what you love and have the confidence to keep doing it.”
She said she hopes this books will find its way into all elementary school classrooms and school libraries. Robin is meeting monthly with a writer’s group in Kernersville and already has an idea for a second children’s book that will deal with a non-traditional career.
Jill Doss-Raines is The Dispatch trending topics and personality profiles senior reporter and is always looking for tips about businesses and entertainment events, secret and new menu items and interesting people in Davidson County. Contact me at [email protected].
