Gresham author rocking children’s lives

Two books detail good works that can done by youth through kindness rocks programs
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Stepheni Curran helps young people to find their voice as a speech and language pathologist with Gresham Community School.

Curran also helps them to find their voice through the children’s books she writes.

With two books and her love of rocks, Curran has helped to teach the valuable lesson of kindness in all circumstances to children and children at heart. Her work has allowed her to speak about her books and the messages behind them on more than 60 occassions, including last week at the Central Wisconsin Book Festival in Wausau.

Curran’s first book, “Rock on Kindness! Pass It On!” started out as something she wrote to teach her own children, but she was encouraged to send her message beyond blood lines.

“I was just trying to teach them about kindness and promoting diversity and trying to meet other kids who might be different from themselves to work past those differences and find common ground,” Curran said. “I read it to my oldest, who was in kindergarten at the time, and she really liked it. Then I thought it might be helpful to other kids.”

The first book introduces children to Ally, a 7-year-old girl who likes to paint rocks and then hides them to bring happiness to others. The book allows young readers to make predictions and learn new words as Ally gives the painted rocks to her five best friends.

“I thought this would be good for other kids, and maybe as a resource for teachers or guidance counselors, and that’s why I decided to take what I had written and typed it into a manuscript,” Curran said. “Then I started looking at different publishers in Wisconsin and surrounding states like Illinois and Minnesota.”

Her search led her to Orange Hat Publishing, a company in Waukesha that specializes in books for young readers. The “Pass It On” book saw such great success that she became the company’s top-selling author in 2019.

“It’s family oriented,” Curran said of Orange Hat. “They also give authors more say when it comes to the illustration phase of publishing, and I really liked that, because illustrations are so important.”

However, Curran didn’t stop with “Pass It On.” This past May, she published a second book in the series titled “Rock on Kindness! Even When Your Heart Hurts!” which follows a 9-year-old boy named Ty, who wants to do something unique to celebrate the birthday of his grandfather, who recently passed away.

While the first book focused on dealing with physical differences, “Even When Your Heart Hurts” deals with personal challenges that Ty’s friends experience, such as having a parent deploy through the military or moving to a new city.

“I postponed publishing the second one because of the pandemic,” Curran said. “I thought it would be challenging to market with not being able to do a lot of presentations.”

Curran said the second book was designed to help children who have lost loved ones. She noted that Ty’s work to help his friends shows that children can continue to be kind and do good works, even when they’re suffering loss.

Kindness rocks did not originate in Curran’s stories. The project formed in 2015 when a woman named Megan Murphy from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, wrote “You’ve got this” on a rock and left it on the beach. The concept quickly went viral, and the trend spread from the United States to the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and other countries.

“Now there’s over 2,000 kindness rock groups in the United States,” Curran said, noting that there are groups in Shawano and Appleton, among other places in Wisconsin. “It’s actually very popular.”

The local author admitted she was hesitant at first to put her words out to a larger audience, unsure of what the reaction would be.

“I think anyone who has published has felt a little apprehension when it comes to seeing what other points of view are in relation to what you’ve written,” Curran said. “What I like to do before publishing and before my professional editors reviews it, I like to do my own peer review, where I select seven to 10 individuals I either know through work or some organization I’m involved in.”

Curran plans to write at least one, possibly two, additional books related to kindness rocks. She said the third book would address perseverance, but she does not have a title for it yet. The next book is not expected for a while for various reasons.

“Once I bring a book, I like to spend about a year working on marketing and doing presentations about my books,” Curran said. “I like to go to schools, libraries, different organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs and even Girl Scout Troops. Looking into 2022, I hope to have more of a manuscript together than what I have now.”

The invite to speak at the book festival in Wausau was a surprise to Curran, who still considers herself to be a “novice” when it comes to being an author.

“I’ve written two books, but there are others who have written 10 or more,” Curran said. “I think I’m just very humbled and appreciative of the opportunity and also to learn from authors who have done this for several years now.”

Curran’s books are available locally at Til the Cows Come Home, 154 S. Main St. The books may also be purchased online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Ingram Content Group, Orange Hat Publishing, and Walmart.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com