We all know that we should never compare our children to anyone else’s. Every child is an individual with his or her own given talents. As parents we should do our best to nurture and embrace those talents and encourage our children to work hard and be the best they can be.

I tried to keep that in mind when I recently spoke to Matthew Pearlman. Matthew, like my son, is 14 years old. Both will be entering their freshman year of high school next month. They also both love sports.

But whereas Matthew took his love of sports and wrote a book, I’m lucky to get my son to take his love of sports and read a book.

Oops, there I go comparing, which I know is so very wrong. Still, interviewing hundreds of elite athletes, writing a book about them and getting it published, all by age 13… Who am I kidding, it’s not my son who pales, it’s me. Talk about feeling inferior.

But the thing about Matthew is that he is so exuberant, it’s hard to feel anything but excited about his accomplishments. As he explains it, he didn’t have an easy time with reading and writing from kindergarten through third grade. But with “a lot of hard work, encouragement from my parents and teachers and perseverance,” he explains, reading and writing became easier. A big part of his success, he adds, was reading biographies about successful athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Michael Jordan, and then writing papers about them.

At age 11, Matthew decided he wanted to be a sports journalist. No, not when he grew up, he meant right then, at 11. So he went onto the websites of many of his favorite athletes to find out where he could write to them, or email, or contact their agents for an interview. He wanted to find out more about what they were like as kids and who or what influenced them.

“At first none of the athletes were willing to do the interviews or they didn’t respond at all. It was frustrating,” says Matthew. “But I kept at it and at it. Then one day I was sitting on the sofa working on the computer when the phone rang. I almost passed out when I saw on the caller ID it was Brett Hull.”

Hully, as he identified himself to Matthew, is of course, the Hall of Fame hockey player, formerly with the St. Louis Blues. As it turns out, Hull’s son and Matthew and his twin sister, Samantha, were all born at Mercy Hospital (formerly St. John’s Mercy Hospital) on the same day.  Matthew learned this from his father, Bryan, who met Hull in the hospital elevator.

“He (Hull) couldn’t have been nicer and more generous with his time,” said Matthew. “Once I got the interview with him, it opened up all kinds of doors and everyone started talking to me.”

Matthew isn’t kidding about that. He says he has conducted more than 500 interviews with professional athletes in sports ranging from baseball to bowling to boxing to billiards. He also has interviewed many Olympians as well as professional cheerleaders — the latter was his twin Samantha’s idea; she, too, is a cheerleader and “the brains of the operation,” says Matthew.

The result of his many interviews is in “That’s Great Advice! Advice from Pro Athletes for Kids, Written by a Kid” (Fast Pencil, $13.95). It features about 75 athletes answering questions that most sports-minded kids (and many adults) want to know, including what it takes to be a leader, keeping a positive attitude, dealing with bullies and the like; then he divided the book into chapters under headings such as “perseverance,” “honesty & integrity” and “following your dream.”

Matthew also began a website, www.teensonsports.com, where he posts his interviews and asks teens what they are curious to learn from their favorite athletes.

When I asked Matthew what was the best piece of advice he received, he said “Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels talked to me about how there is no substitute for hard work and how much it paid off. He fought back from an injury (he had as a teen) when doctors said he had a 1 percent chance of pitching again. He said in order to succeed, learn from your failures and keep doing your best. Don’t give up on your dream.”

Clearly Matthew hasn’t. His drive and determination has both floored and wowed his parents who are as amazed as much as Matthew is about the cooperation he received from the athletes.

“These athletes are busy people, not just athletically, with what they do, but personally as well,” says Matthew’s mother, Lena Pearlman. “That they were willing to take however long to give their time to Matthew and answer questions they are not used to being asked –- what inspired you, did you struggle in school, who was your role model — I think it really touched them.

“He (Matthew) was coming from a simple place asking questions that every kid wants to know. I think that’s why the athletes are so attached to this project.”

Matthew, who will be a freshman at Valley Park High School and whose family is Jewish but unaffiliated, apparently isn’t one to rest on his laurels. He is currently at work on a new book about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters. He says they are often misunderstood and labeled as “bad people,” though most are “amazing and nice.”

“They know a lot about bullying and have great information to share,” says Matthew, who trains in martial arts.

He also is quite busy this summer with a hectic schedule of book signings. He will be at the West County YMCA in Chesterfield from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in Westport from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Tyrone Woodley’s ATT Evolution Gym in Rock Hill from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 4 and Barnes & Noble in Fenton from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5 (go to www.teensonsports.com for a complete listing).

Interestingly, while Matthew’s website has links to both Facebook and Twitter, Lena Pearlman says she and her husband monitor both, and have not yet allowed Matthew or Samantha to have their own personal accounts.

Then again, between working on his new book and all those book signings, when would Matthew even have time for Facebook?

Hmm, maybe that’s what I’m doing wrong.