By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Hays USD 489 elementary school children were treated Tuesday to the story of a very friendly grizzly bear who lost his way — but managed to find new friends and gratitude.
Oklahoma City’s children’s author Dennis Mathew sang to the children and read to them his book “How Grizzly Found Gratitude.”
Mathew, 40, works full-time as a speech pathologist but spends his free time writing children’s books and songs.
Mathew has written three children’s books also including “Bello the Cello” and “My Wild First Day of School.”
All of the students in grades kindergarten through second grade received free copies of “How Grizzly Found Gratitude” thanks to the USD 489 Foundation for Education Excellence.
“To me, it all comes down to helpings students find their voice,” Mathew said. “Writing children’s books is an extension of what I do as a speech pathologist. As a speech pathologist, I feel I’m helping students be seen.”
This was Mathew’s first school visit to Kansas, but he calculates that he has presented to at least 100,000 children across the nation either in person or virtually.
He said he finds inspiration for his books through the struggles he had as a child and into his adulthood.
Mathew said students have gone through a lot during the last three years dealing with the pandemic.
“All the transitions that our students and staff had to go through that was trauma in big and small ways,” he said.
He said he uses some of the lessons he has learned to help children navigate those same challenges.
“I ask myself during these transitions that I’ve had to deal with if it’s COVID-19 or whatever else, what are some things that have helped me get through those challenges? ” he said.
“Gratitude is a big piece of that. I asked myself as a 40-year-old man were those challenging for me? How much more challenging are they for our littles who are 4 and 5 and 6?”
In “Bello the Cello,” Mathew writes about a cello who is finding his purpose on the first day of school.
Mathew drew from his own experience on his first day of school.
“To this day, very vividly I remember bawling my eyes out as my dad dropped me off at school and he went to work,” he said. “In my little mind, Dad was not coming back.”
When he presents Bello to the children, Mathew, a self-proclaimed late bloomer, talks to students about finding their strengths.
“I talk to them and say, ‘If you don’t know what you are good at during this season of life, that’s me also. Don’t panic. Don’t worry. Everything is going to turn out. Give yourself some time. Let life play its course out. Eventually, you will stumble upon what you are good at.’ “
“My Wild First Day of School” encourages students to seize the day and pursue goals and dreams.
Mathew’s books lean heavily toward addressing emotional issues with kids. The Kansas Department of Education has made social and emotional growth a part of the accreditation process for all Kansas schools.
“I think our young ones are living in an age where they have to grow up too fast,” Mathew said. “I grew up in the ’80s, and during the time I grew up in this world, I remember a very simple time where all I had to do was wake up and go to school. My needs were taken care of.”
Mathew said he worries about his 3-year-old daughter and his son that is due in two weeks.
“[Our kiddos] need to have a toolbox of strategies and techniques and tips that can help them navigate the challenges that wait for them even at a very young age,” he said.
Reading skills also are important to enhance the trajectory of children’s lives, Mathew said. Being able to successfully read a book is a high indicator of success in employment regardless of field, finances and relationships.
“It also sparks the imagination and helps children to envision a brighter future and see beautiful things through the eyes of their imagination,” he said. “I think reading sets the onramp for all of that.”
Mathew said he feels the greatest reward of his work is seeing children connecting with the characters in his books.
As a class of students in upstate New York was filing into a room in which he was presenting, he saw a girl out of the corner of his eye hugging a copy of his book, “Bello the Cello.”
“To her the character on the front cover of the book, Bello, she had built a very personal connection with this little character, so she was tightly squeezing this book like a stuffed animal,” he said. …
“That moment meant a lot to me that this character that I created made a personal connection with a student who I had never met before.”
Mathew is working on a chapter book, but a release date has not been set. He said he is a husband and father first so he often struggles to find time to write, but hopes to finish the text within the next six months
