Carlton Scott has over fifteen years’ clinical experience as a traveling nurse (RN) with a specialty in critical care nursing and a focus on children’s health. He has worked with over 1000 children and teens in both mental health counseling and critical care nursing. Inspired by his desire to cheer up sick children, Scott has authored and illustrated three children’s books that teach kids the lessons of friendship, self-acceptance and adventure. As part of his commitment to supporting children’s health, he donates 50 percent of all profits from his books to children’s hospitals across the country.
Born Dec. 30, 1962, in Jackson, Tennessee, Carlton graduated from Clearwater High School in Florida, and earned his first college degree in 1985 — a bachelor’s in psychology. While working on his master’s in mental health counseling, he worked as a lifeguard on Clearwater Beach. “Learning to keep my ‘cool’ in an emergency on the beach laid the foundation for the codes I would later encounter as a critical care nurse.” Two years after getting his degree, Carlton published his first children’s book, titled Grin’s Message, “On my days off as a lifeguard, I began swimming with dolphins and had found a secluded place where they gathered. I always thought they had a grin on their face,” says Scott.
Carlton’s love of art began early when, at 8 years old, he won an art contest with a Tampa Bay TV station for a drawing he did from a scene in the movie 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. The prize was a cruise for two to the Bahamas, tickets to the movie and a visit to the TV Station. Scott sold the cruise to his parents for $300 and then eagerly saw the film starring Kirk Douglas.
Scott’s career as a nurse has taken him all over the United States, from Sarasota, Florida, where he worked in psychiatric hospitals with inpatient adults and teens, to the island of Kauai in Hawaii, where he assisted troubled children and teens in a day treatment center. He has helped open a runaway shelter for the YMCA youth and family services in Florida and created an adventure-based counseling and dropout-prevention program for violent teens.
At the age of 33, Carlton was pursuing a second degree in nursing when he had a case of misdiagnosed glaucoma and lost the vision in his left eye. To help deal with the stress of being visually impaired, Scott would hike in the Rocky Mountains near Denver, Colorado where he lived. He then took off to Southeast Asia, backpacking and venturing through Thailand; Cambodia and Bali, Indonesia to decide what to do with his future.
During this time, he finished his second children’s book, Little Big Wolf, based on his drawings and collection of hiking photos. He published both Grin’s Message and Little Big Wolf in hardcover and sold 2000 of each through Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, craft shows and street fairs. He then returned to Florida and finished his second degree (a bachelor’s in nursing) and accepted a job at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Pediatric ICU.
Today, Carlton travels with his wife, Annie (also a nurse), throughout the United States providing critical care services to hospitals from Alaska to Los Angeles. His newest children’s book, Glamour Girl From The Stars, was published in April, 2010, and his books are now autographed and shipped to people’s homes from his website: www.carltonsbooks.com.
