Born in Tennessee in 1931, Kassem attended East Tennessee State College. Married in 1951, she had four daughters and began her storytelling career entertaining her own children. As a school librarian she further refined her storytelling skills, and is now the author of a dozen juvenile novels representing a variety of genres, among them humor, mystery, history, and the supernatural. Often setting her novels in Virginia, where she has lived and worked for many years, Kassem has, according to Sally Harris in the Roanoke Times, "always been a storyteller." As the versatile author once commented, "For me, writing is like breathing: absolutely necessary. Reading is the bread that sustains me. Speaking about writing is my pleasure."