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NANTICOKE — A Nanticoke grandmother and her grandson spent the better part of the past year seeing a dream come to life — in the form of a book. Fran and Sean Patrick Spencer’s book “Ian-John and the Leprechaun” came to life recently when the Spencer’s had the first shipment of their hard cover children’s mystery books came in.
Fran said she had gotten the idea to write a book at a child’s birthday party almost two years ago, where she told a haunted ghost story. A year later, she had enlisted some help of her grandson, Sean Patrick, 14, a freshman at Greater Nanticoke Area, and the book came to life.
“I was like oh my god,” Sean Patrick said of the moment his grandmother came to him with the idea.
“He couldn’t believe it,” Fran countered with a laugh.
Reading in an Irish accent Thursday, the duo gave the Times Leader a sneak peek of their book.
The premise of the book takes place in an imagined forest in Ballyshannon, Ireland.
“I just closed my eyes and pointed to a map,” Fran admits of how she picked the name.
Ian-John, a curious young boy goes off in the forest, defying his mother’s wishes, to find a lost sheep.
He comes upon a leprechaun and gets into some hijinx, which include going into a mysterious portal.
“There’s nothing more magical than a leprechaun,” Fran said.
The illustrations in the book are “soft” yet “bright.” And even though Sean Patrick didn’t color the drawings himself, he was able to help out in the design. His influence is seen throughout the pages — including what kind of house the leprechaun lived in.
“He has a vivid imagination,” Fran said, noting the book was a way to have Sean Patrick channel his artistic side.
The book is filled with names close to the family and coincidentally, the leprechaun is named Sean Patrick.
Because the book ends with a bit of friendship between the leprechaun and the boy, the pair hopes to continue writing about the adventures of Ian-John for some time to come. It definitely doesn’t hurt that Sean Patrick wants to be a writer, and as they admitted, has wanted to be a writer since pre-school.
Sean Patrick also likes to be creative and do graphics; Fran hopes one day their books will become animated shorts or audiobooks.
The duo is having a book reading 2 p.m. Saturday at the Barnes & Noble in the Wilkes-Barre Township Marketplace.
