For Pleasant Hills mother-daughter duo Nicole Leckenby and Mary Dunn, there is something new to be thankful for this holiday season.

As of Nov. 1, Leckenby has been celebrating the Thanksgiving season with the release of her and Dunn’s newest book, “It’s Turkey Lurkey Time.” Here, Leckenby has continued to serve as the author while Dunn brings the characters to life through illustrations.

“I really fell in love with writing my eleventh-grade year,” Leckenby said.

Since then, she has explored her craft by developing a playful series of children’s books with her mother. This way, both get to explore their long-loved hobbies of writing and drawing, respectively.

“She’s drawn pretty much all her life,” Leckenby said.

Armed with a self-made rhyming dictionary of holiday words, Leckenby said it typically takes her about a week to come up with the complete rhyme work for her stories.

“Once I figure out the rhymes, then it all flows from there,” Leckenby said.

This time around, she said, the idea came to her rather quickly as she ruminated on her love for Thanksgiving.

“It’s not like a holiday where you do presents,” Leckenby said. “You just get to have a meal with your family.”

Her new book includes a series of nods to her family’s annual Turkey Day activities — family gathering together, preparing a meal, eating loads of turkey and gravy and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Along with her role as author, Leckenby also self-publishes her books on Amazon. This way, she said, she has more control over how the profits of the book are distributed. As with all of her books, a portion of sales goes to a specific charity of Leckenby’s choosing. For “It’s Turkey Lurkey Time,” Leckenby has chosen the Heart Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness and advancing research for America’s leading cause of death in adults: heart disease.

This cause takes on special meaning for Leckenby and Dunn. Leckenby’s grandmother (Dunn’s mother), died of congenital heart disease many years ago.

“I wanted to do this for her,” Leckenby said.

While Leckenby said she still misses her grandmother, she has found ways to keep her alive in spirit during the holidays. Growing up, Leckenby said that her Italian heritage was extremely important. Carrying on the ways of her grandmother, she takes time to make stuffed shells for the family every Thanksgiving, just like her grandmother used to.

“Tradition means a lot to me,” Leckenby said.

She hopes these small acknowledgments of her ancestry are something her two sons decide to carry on as they grow up.

Leckenby hopes sales of this book help to contribute to life-saving heart disease research as well as remind families of the cherished nature of the holidays — both in loving memory of her grandmother and the Thanksgiving traditions she passed along to Leckenby and Dunn.

“Even though she’s not here, she’s still part of our meals,” Leckenby said.

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