Author Vicki Gasperini writes books with her granddaughters! You will love them all!
InkandescentKids welcomes children’s book author and grandma extraordinaire Vicki Gasperini. A retired high school English, speech, and Resource teacher from 1976-2019, Vicki decided during the pandemic that the best way to stay connected to her grandkids was to write books with them.
Find details about the books and her co-authors below! And meet Vicki in person in person at our August 8 InkandescentKids Children’s Book Fair and Birthday Party!
Adventure Cat Meets the Flying Monkeys
By Olivia Grace Schworer and Vicki Lee Gasperini • Illustrated by Tristan Tait
Meet Pompom, a young cat living a comfortable life with her loving family in their tree house overlooking the Magic Forest. She is attracted to the beauty of the forest, but her father forbids her from exploring it. Pompom wants to obey his orders, but she cannot deny her curiosity and sets out to explore the Magic Forest on her own. Pompom’s decision will result in dangerous encounters with mythical creatures, opportunities for bravery, and a mature understanding of the value of family and friends.
About co-author Olivia Grace Schworer: In 2021, COVID was raging, and 2400 miles separated Olivia Grace Schworer, who lived in Menlo Park, California, and her grandmother, Vicki Lee Gasperini, who lived in Leesburg, Virginia. Still, they were determined to stay in touch. On Tuesdays, after Olivia’s kindergarten lessons, they would call each other on Facebook. Olivia’s favorite pastime was making up stories. Vicki would type them as Olivia dictated, and later she would edit them for clarity.
Eventually, Vicki decided to publish one story of many. Adventure Cat Meets the Flying Monkeys is about a curious cat who enters the forbidden forest against her parents’ permission and is overtaken by a troupe of monkeys with wings. Oddly enough a friendship ensues after some unexpected challenges but each group learns that diverse creatures can share the same family values. Today Olivia is entering middle school and Vicki is preparing to move with her husband Frank to California to be closer to Olivia’s family.
Wake Up Little Panda
By Laina Schworer and Vicki Lee Gasperini • Illustrated by Roka Studio
Busloads of happy school children arrive to witness Jingles, the first baby panda born at the zoo. After a naughty child in the crowd strikes Jingles with an apple, the frightened Jingles runs away through an undetected hole in the fence. Outside the fence, the fleeing Jingles runs over an innocent bystander, a lab mouse named Cookie, who is indignant until he realizes that Jingles is just a frightened cub. Cookie decides to help her get home. But how? On their journey Jingles will get exactly what Cookie prescribes: an ed-du-k-shun, as they encounter other animals and one girl, named Lilac. Wake up little panda!
About co-author Laina Hope Schworer
Laina Schworer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her parents and sister. Vicki Gasperini, Laina’s Grandma, lives in Leesburg, VA with her husband, Frank, and two dogs. Even though over 2,000 miles separate them, their visits and phone calls give them time to create stories together. When Laina is not attending elementary school, she performs ballet, plays soccer and collects her many stuffed animals.
Vicki is a retired Virginia English teacher who bakes bread, gardens, and rides her horse, Henry. Vicki co-authored her first book, Adventure Cat Meets the Flying Monkeys, with Laina’s sister, Olivia; her second book, Wake-up Little Panda, is co-authored with Laina. This book is about a baby panda named Jingles who learns the true value of “edu-ca-tion” from an escaped lab mouse and a little girl who left her school field trip.
Check out our Q&A with Vicki Lee Gasperini
InkandescentKids: What inspired you to write these books with your granddaughters?
Vicki: Love. I also knew how much they loved stories. I wanted to teach them that they could turn their art into a published project to share. This is how I stayed in touch with them, too. They live in California and I, in Virginia.
InkandescentKids: How did you work as a teacher help with the process of writing the books?
Vicki: I had taught secondary English classes, but I had only published articles, never non-fiction and I didn’t know anything about the publishing process.
InkandescentKids: What advice do you have for kids who want to become writers?
Vicki: Write. Practice makes perfect. Also, join a workshop that encourages sharing. Take creative writing courses in their schools.
InkandescentKids: What is the most important thing you’ve learned about writing a book?
Vicki: How time-consuming and expensive it can be.
InkandescentKids: What do you hope readers will take away from your story?
Vicki: Pleasure. Our stories also pack a lesson or two. Also, the plots and characters are well developed. My illustrators were very good.
InkandescentKids: What was it like to see your work published? And what do your co-authors think?
Vicki: For me, it was very rewarding. My granddaughters love the books. To be a child and already to be able to say not only that he/she wrote a book, but also to have it in his/her school library and some bookstores, is very cool.