Marge Piscitelli always knew she had a story in her. It just took 40 years to let it out.
“I was in my backyard, watching a squirrel bury her nuts. There was a blue jay up on the wire watching this, and I was watching him. She buried them and then scampered away. Well, he dives down, and he undoes the hole. He uncovers them and he jams them all in his beak and [flies] away,” Piscitelli says about that day at her New Castle home. “When I saw him do that, I thought that was going to be an interesting little children’s story someday. That day or that week, I wrote a little tiny outline. I called the squirrel Queenie and the blue jay Buster.”
The idea sat until 2022, when Piscitelli decided the time was right to explore the creatures’ friendship. She self-published “The Legend of the Great Mystical Oak Tree,” sending Queenie and Buster on a quest in an enchanted forest. The pair’s adventures continued with the books “The Gathering” and “Valley of the Bears.” Recently, Piscitelli left the two behind and created a new world with “The Island of Nera.”
Her love of wildlife spurred her to donate all book profits to local animal organizations in honor of her rescue dog, Buddy, who passed away in 2020. Proceeds from the last two books have gone to Voices for the Voiceless, a volunteer wildlife rehabilitation organization based in Sussex County.
“They deal with animals that are either injured or abandoned. Most of the time, the money is earmarked for vet bills,” the author says.
Lewes resident Toni Oddo and Bridgeville’s Vicki Bowman run the organization, whose members travel throughout the state to rescue sick or injured baby animals. The group received over 2,000 calls last year.
“[Piscitelli’s donations] do a lot of good,” Bowman says. “Every little bit helps. We are all volunteers that rehab. We have to pay for everything out of our own pocket.”
Books are available at Hockessin BookShelf, 7179 Lancaster Pike. For more on Voices for the Voiceless, visit the Facebook.
