Synopsis: Have you ever wondered where your loose change went? The missing sock that disappears without a trace: where could it be? Robert has seen it all. He spends his days watching awful daytime television and taking extended naps on his plush couch. One day, a strange little man appears beneath his couch, a leprechaun named Colin. Together, they hatch a plan to reclaim Colin's lost fortune and defeat an army of lost socks and an evil gremlin. Carefully illustrated by the talented Steve Ferchaud, it reminds us that you’re never too old to have one more adventure. Loved by adults and children, this illustrated fairy tale is meant to be read aloud.
An excerpt from Conspirators of the Lost Sock Army and the Loose Change Collection Agency:Robert heard the voice again, the thick Irish accent clear as the little man spoke. “That’d be like me calling ye human all the time, not very polite that’d be.”
He opened his eyes slowly and saw the little man, the leprechaun, perched on the couch. Reclined back against the armrest, a pipe snug between his teeth, he snapped his fingers.
The light of the overturned lamp flickered on and floated back to the now right-side-up table. Robert watched in disbelief, his mouth hanging open and a bewildered look plastered across his face.
Robert pointed shakily. “Not a leprechaun?” he asked, the confused expression deepening.
The leprechaun sighed and stepped off the edge of the couch and landed upon the air as if it were another floor. The smoke from his pipe followed the tiny sprite as he stopped close to the huddled man. He tipped his tam-o’-shanter and pulled the pipe from his lips.
“We haven’t the time for this, laddie. I require your help, Robert Pendleton, and I be afraid that I have little time for lengthy introductions. You can call me Colin.”
Robert’s face twisted in befuddlement.
“Colin, the leprechaun,” he repeated––a long pause before he breathed once more.
“Just Colin, less you want me to be calling ye Robert, the human, all the time,” chided the sprite as he blew a colossal bundle of smoke from his lips.
Robert opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. His mind spun. “What can I do for you, Colin?” he finally managed to say.
The leprechaun eyed him for a moment and then as quick as Robert could blink, the sprite rested comfortably on the couch once more. “That’s better, laddie. Though I imagine you be thinking of pinchin’ yerself to see if this be real. I can assure ye that this be no dream.”
Robert nodded numbly.
“I be from another world just outside the one you know. A place of magic and wonder,” began the leprechaun, ignoring the vacant look on Robert’s face as he continued. “And in this place, we sprites live quite happily. You’ve heard of a leprechaun’s pot-o-gold?”
Dan O’Brien has over 50 publications to his name––including the bestselling
Bitten, which was featured on Conversations Book Club’s Top 100 novels of 2012. Before starting Amalgam Consulting, he was the senior editor and marketing director for an international magazine. You can learn more about his literary and publishing consulting business by visiting his website at:
www.amalgamconsulting.com. Follow him on
Twitter at @AuthorDanOBrien.
