There is more than one Nicole Leckenby.
One of them is on staff in the School of Public Health, where she is a post-award grants administrator for the Department of Epidemiology. Another is vice president of the Pleasant Hills Borough Council. Another is “soccer mom” to sons Liam and Colin, and wife to husband Brian, an information technology professional. Then there’s the one who writes children’s books.
“In my spare time,” she says with a wry smile. “My mom does all of the illustrations, and we donate a portion of the proceeds from each book to a different charity.”
Leckenby and her mom, Mary Dunn of West Mifflin, have collaborated on six books so far that are geared to children ages 8 and under. “They’re all about a little boy,” she says.
The Summer Vacation series offers rhyming verse about Halloween, Thanksgiving, Groundhog Day and—natch—summer vacation. Another book examines what happens when the normal routine suddenly includes lessons online at home, wearing a mask and repeated handwashing because of COVID-19. The most recent book, “Jingle All the Way,” was released in December 2023.
Leckenby, who graduated from Pitt with a degree in communications and media, started off blogging in several online forums. It wasn’t long before Dunn suggested the two collaborate.
“I came up with the idea of summer vacation because my kids were getting ready to go back to school,” she remembers of their first project, published in 2020. “I enjoy writing and working with my mom on them.”
Organizations that have benefited from book sales include Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, Safe Place, No Kid Hungry and the Heart Foundation. “It’s a way to help give back,” says Leckenby.
All of Leckenby's children’s books, as well as a cookbook and book of poetry that she edited, are available on Amazon.com.
-Michele Baum