REEDSVILLE — The summer light slants through the kitchen window, painting a warm rectangle on the floor. It is a kitchen like many others in Mifflin County — a clutter of cereal boxes, the faint scent of toast, the echo of a child’s giggle in the next room.

Here, at this quiet hour when day is new, stories are born. It is where Jason Retherford, father, husband, son, of Reedsville, first gave life to a boy named Chase and a face streaked in chocolate — stories spun for a child’s delight, stories stitched together with the humble thread of family evenings and the unremarkable magic of a parent’s love.

Before there was a book, there was only the wild tumble of a father’s imagination. Jason told tales to his young son, tales not for any market, not to win prizes, but to keep a boy grinning before bedtime. Treasure hunts, fantastical escapes, worlds built from couch cushions and kitchen chairs. But this is how stories take root: not in grand pronouncements, but in ordinary rooms.

“I have always had a wild imagination and love to tell stories,” Retherford said. “I would often tell stories to my son about him when he was younger. I made up stories about him going on adventures, finding treasure or just being silly.”

Now, years later, those family stories have become a book with a real cover, real pages, and a name on the spine: “The Adventures of Chocolate-Face Chase.” The hero is a boy like any boy, hungry for wonder and a little mischief, his cheeks smudged with the evidence of an undying love for chocolate.

It is the sort of book you might find at the bottom of a backpack, the corners worn soft by small hands. The kind of book that smells faintly of cocoa and old carpet and the world of childhood, a world where factories are guarded by wizards and maps lead, inevitably, to joy.

The plot itself is pure adventure. “With the smell of that sweet chocolaty goodness in the air, Chase could hardly control himself any longer. Chocolate-Face Chase knew today was the day he would sneak into the factory in search of the magical concoctions he had heard stories and whispers of countless times before. Armed with only a map and his incurable love for chocolate, Chase worked up the courage to venture to the factory. Now, this was no ordinary factory. It was defended like a castle from the times of knights, wizards and dragons. Located inside, protecting his creations, was Simon Sweettooth, who looked more like one of those wild-eyed wizards than a maker of delicious chocolates.”

The story has its castle and its guardian, its secret corridors, and of course, its treasure. It is at once a fairy tale and a gentle nod to the secret yearnings of every child who has ever pressed their nose against the glass of a candy store.

But beneath the sugar-dusted surface, the book is not about chocolate at all. It is about courage, the courage to dream, to wander, to break out of the expected. It is about the sometimes-scary leap from the known world into the darkened corridor, with only a map and a friend’s laugh as your guide. Most of all, it is about the ways families give shape to their days, about the thin line between the real world and the worlds we build with words. This is the oldest story of all.

For Jason, writing “Chocolate-Face Chase” was a leap, too.

“This whole process helped me realize how awesome my group of friends and family is,” he said. “I did a crowdfunding campaign to help with the process, and the number of people who jumped in to help me see this through was amazing. I did not expect all the help I received. I felt truly blessed.”

Publishing a book is not like telling a story at the dinner table. There are proofs and edits, emails to answer, and, perhaps hardest of all, the vulnerability of putting your own words in the hands of strangers. Jason found himself surprised by the kindness that returned to him, the neighbors and friends who backed his dream with encouragement and the occasional check.

He worked with Fulton Books in Meadville, Pennsylvania, a partnership of proofreaders, illustrators and printers, all shepherding a new author through the maze. “The entire process involved a lot of back-and-forth, but it was fun,” Retherford said. The illustrations, bright and loose, match the energy of the tale, a collaboration that took the story from living room to bookshelf.

This is, at its core, a book for children, specifically those on the cusp of reading, who stumble over words and delight in pictures, who see the world as an open field.

“I was aiming for children who are just starting to read. I come from a large family, so there are always new babies coming into the family,” Retherford explained.

For now, the early feedback is limited. The book was released at the end of July, and its reach is only beginning to spread. But it is the small moments that matter — the parent who gives a compliment; The local teacher who promises to share it with a new class. Each accolade is a small miracle, a reminder that something made in love can ripple out, one reader at a time.

What sets Jason apart is not the publication itself, but the sense of an unfinished journey. “Yes, I have already started the second book, and it is almost complete. When I get the inspiration to continue the story, I try to write it down quickly, so I don’t lose those ideas. I have about ten titles for all the adventures I want Chocolate-Face Chase to go on. I have had so much fun writing this book.”

There is a restlessness to creativity, the constant itch of the next story, the next idea. Jason has caught that bug.

He is quick to share the credit. “I want to say thank you to my wife, Mindy, and our two amazing kids. I could not have done this without their inspiration and help. I plan to reach out to the local elementary schools and libraries to do readings of the book so everyone can enjoy it.”

It is the thank you that rings true, the humility that comes from a man who still sees himself as a neighbor, a dad, a teller of stories rather than an Author with a capital A.

There is a symmetry here: a local author, a local book, a local boy named Chase. If the world is sometimes big and strange, stories make it smaller, safer, more familiar. For Jason Retherford, the adventure is not in the factory, not in the magic chocolate, but in the way a story moves from one kitchen to another, from parent to child, from Reedsville to every town where a child curls up and reads.

The greatest reward, he says, is simple: “This is something I have talked about doing for years. It was scary to finally stand up and do it. Now that it is complete and out in the world, I love when people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I got your book; it was great!’ That is such a good feeling. I like to make people happy, so I am glad others are getting enjoyment out of my stories.”

In the end, the kitchen light will fade, bedtime will come, and another day will slip past. But on a shelf, a book waits, and a boy named Chase, his face smeared in chocolate, is always ready to sneak into the factory one more time. The adventure, as every good story knows, never really ends.