Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Kind of Spark

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

16 reviews

wintah's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

very good, cried just a little.

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aishallnot's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"I am not afriad of this. Or ashamed. It's just a part of who I am. Someone being autistic is no different from someone being left-handed or color-blind. It means we experience the world differently. And while some people might misunderstand it, I know that it is just a part of who I am. I can't be cured. I don't want to be. It's just a fact of life."

This book was so affirming to me as an autistic adult. Even though this is middle grade I think this book is perfect for everyone to read and understand and/or relate what it means to be neurodivergent. This story came at the right time for me to ensure that there is nothing wrong with being different in a neurotypical society. I even found myself tearing up a bit bc of how much I related to addie in how we deal with emotions and people treating us. I know this book will stick with me for a while and i honestly want to get a physical copy to read again and keep with me forever. this author will be an auto-buy/auto-read for sure!!

Side note: there is a tv show adaptation of this book with two seasons so far so i'll be checking that out 👀

cw: ablest language (r slur is used a couple of times) bullying, torture, violence, forced institutionalization,

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sustainably_lucia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I love this book! It is an honest and beautiful story of an 11-year-old girl and her family navigating being autistic in a world that is not built for us, surrounded by people who do not understand us, nor wish to. It shows various forms of bullying as well as how the love and support of our family and friends can make a big difference.

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thecandiegirl's review

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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stargummy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Did I read this all in one day? Hell yeah I did bc it was fantastic.

Never ever have I seen the internal monologue of a protagonist and thought, “she’s just like me, she understands” so many times that it brought me to tears.

Too many of her experiences were unfortunately exactly like mine and although it’s sad that autistic people have such universally shit experiences, it really made me happy to see it written down in a published book like??? People can just read this and know how it feels and know what it’s like and that’s AWESOME!! More of this please!

I love Addie so much <33

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sleepyshelves's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I still have so many feelings, and the longer I sit with them the more intimidating writing a review becomes.

Addie is autistic; she loves sharks (did you know they can sense electricity????) and she loves words (she carries a pocket thesaurus her sister gave her with her everywhere). She really just loves to learn. When her class starts learning about witches, she can’t help that she needs to know everything she can – these women who were killed for being different resonate with her in a way that no one in her class seems to understand, including her teacher. She immediately begins to lobby for a memorial for the women she’s come to relate with. But her town won’t take her seriously, in fact, they seem to blame her “poor behavior” on her sister.

An earnest examination of the treatment of autistic children, A Kind of Spark doesn’t shy away from the way adults and kids alike bully their autistic peers. What starts as a simple, honest plea for recognition turns into a fight against the greater population of her small town, and McNicoll’s dedicated, compassionate voice fills each page, uplifting Addie and Keedie with a transparency that comes from personal connections. I can’t find the correct words to articulate the impact of such a straightforward story.

Not generally a huge fan of contemporary work, I was floored by how compulsively I was reading McNicoll’s debut. I’m now confronted with the obstacle of the prequel (Keedie, Addie’s older sister, is also autistic and has her own story coming out) being released in the UK and not in the US. Reading this book has had profound reverberations through my personal life in the past few weeks since.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

“People aren't like books. A familiar book is always the same, always comforting and full of the same words and pictures. A familiar person can be new and challenging, no matter how many times you try to read them.”

➽ A Kind of Spark follows Addie, an autistic girl who is campaigning for her town to build a monument to the witch hunts that occurred in the past! I heard a lot of good things about this book and was excited to finally check it out. I really felt for Addie, she doesn't have it easy as most people don't understand her autism and judge her for not fitting into their neurotypical norms. Between friends abandoning her, bullying from her classmates and a super ableist teacher, this was hard to read at times! I just wanted to protect Keedie! I'm glad that she could find a new friend and was able to make her passion for the victims of the witch hunts heard. Addie has a strong sense of justice and is fixated on the witch hunts that happened in her town centuries ago. I also loved the close bond with her older sister Keedie who is also autistic and understands her best!

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penofpossibilities's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Cried a couple of times. Its the first kids book ive read with such explicit autistic rep. I felt very jealous at the mc for having so many words to explain her autism to others. I could relate alot to her experiences but not the way she could express herself and stand up for herself. I did not have those words as a kid. Im glad some kids do and that this book could be meaningful for them. I did not like the whiteness of the autism rep though, it talked about how its more difficult for high support needs autistics but not about intersectionality of ableism and racism and that was a pity. There was not enough intersectionality in the advocacy of this book in general and I also did not like the language policing; two times the mc says that autism is not something you have but autistic is something you are and the mc says it like that is a fact. But not all autistics feel that way so it felt a bit exclusive :/ also at the end the mc says everyone in the town is good now bcs they recognised one wrong thing in history but that is very simplified and again I feel like thats such a white perspective that largely ignores how dangerous it still is to be poc and autistic or having intersecting disabilities etc. I still rate it 4 stars despite these issues bcs its a really special book and I wish I had it as a child. It made me feel closer to my self and it made me feel validated.

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rebeccafarren's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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