Saturday May 14, 2022
Books Alive! Featuring Children’s Author
Vicki Gasperini
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM at Northumberland Public Library

By the time Vicki Gasperini finished high school in 1970, she had lived in four states and six towns, abundant material for future stories. Between her college years, at Catholic University and George Mason University, she worked in retail serving customers in Munich, Germany. When she returned to the States, Vicki married. She also completed degrees in English and Special Education. Her career as an English teacher spanned 30 years in Fairfax, Loudoun and Westmoreland County Public Schools in Virginia. It was a vacation to the Tides Inn, prompted by a Washington Post article about the Northern Neck, that spawned Vicki’s love of the Tidewater region and her desire to live there. After Vicki married Frank Gasperini in 2019, they made Vicki’s dream a reality and moved to Heathsville. They intended to travel visiting children and grandchildren in California and New York. Unfortunately, Covid 19 hit. Determined to stay in touch with her grandchildren, Vicki would FaceTime her six-year-old granddaughter, Olivia. She would listen while Olivia made up stories and then later Vicki would edit them, staying true to Olivia’s intentions. After six months, Grandma encouraged Olivia to publish her favorite story about a curious kitten who goes on a forbidden adventure. Thus, Adventure Cat Meets the Flying Monkeys by Olivia Grace Schworer and Vicki Lee Gasperini was born out of love and dedicated to grandparents separated from their own grandchildren.