When Nicholas Niosi and his daughter, Ava, set out to publish a book together, it wasn’t just about storytelling–it was about building memories and encouraging creativity in their family. What began as silly bedtime and campfire stories turned into a year-and-a-half long journey of writing, illustrating and learning the ropes of self-publishing. The result? “Peter the Pickle Vampire”, a fun, spooky and heartfelt children’s book brought to life by a father’s storytelling and his six-year-old daughters’ artwork.

Nicholas was inspired by Ava’s love of drawing and the joy his kids found in his made-up stories and thought publishing a book would be a great way to foster Ava’s continued creativity. He dove into many online resources to learn everything he could about publishing and through that journey, wrote his own book titled, “Grandma Ninja”, a heartfelt story about a grandchild’s love and admiration for their grandma. The book helped Nicholas better understand self-publishing and take on the collaborative project with Ava to create a book that not only entertained but inspired.

Ava’s artwork evolved throughout the process as her father credits the illustrations as the heart of the story. “It’s been incredible to work with Ava and help her see what she can do with her art,” he said. Ava has since shared the book at her school where it was well received and inspired some of her friends to start writing their own stories. She added that, “It felt great” to hold her published book for the first time and she hopes that it inspires other kids to “never give up” on the things that they enjoy doing.

More than just a book, “Peter the Pickle Vampire” is about embracing your uniqueness as it tells the story of an unusual vampire who turns into a flying pickle instead of a bat with a preference for pickle juice. Feeling left out for being different, Peter eventually meets other unique monster friends, showing readers that it’s okay to be different and true friendship comes when you embrace who you are. The book also includes a special page encouraging kids to draw their own characters, hoping to spark creativity beyond the story.

While they both hope to continue the “Peter the Pickle” series, their next plan is to publish the book, “I love you More” a story Nicholas had written for Ava when she was born that Ava has since assisted in rewriting. Ava hopes to continue doing book tours to different schools and writing her own stories while Nicholas hopes to publish a book with his younger child Miles.

For Nicholas, it was all about making memories. “In the end it’s what everyone wants–good memories with their kids,” he said. “We hope to inspire more people to support their kids’ hobbies and show them that it is possible.”

“Peter the Pickle Vampire” is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, “Ninja Grandma” is also available on Amazon.