A Kind of Spark

Product Description
Perfect for readers of Song for a Whale and Counting by 7s, a neurodivergent girl campaigns for a memorial when she learns that her small Scottish town used to burn witches simply because they were different.\n"A must-read for students and adults alike." -School Library Journal, Starred Review\nEver since Ms. Murphy told us about the witch trials that happened centuries ago right here in Juniper, I can’t stop thinking about them. Those people weren’t magic. They were like me. Different like me.\nI’m autistic. I see things that others do not. I hear sounds that they can ignore. And sometimes I feel things all at once. I think about the witches, with no one to speak for them. Not everyone in our small town understands. But if I keep trying, maybe someone will. I won’t let the witches be forgotten. Because there is more to their story. Just like there is more to mine.\nAward-winning and neurodivergent author Elle McNicoll delivers an insightful and stirring debut about the European witch trials and a girl who refuses to relent in the fight for what she knows is right.
Review
A Peter Blue Book Award Winner for Best Story of the Year!\n"This debut novel from neurodivergent author McNicoll will bring readers to tears and have them cheering for Addie as she learns how much she has to offer the world."
-School Library Journal, Starred Review\n"The author, herself neurodivergent, imbues Addie’s unapologetically autistic perspective with compassion and insight."
-Kirkus Reviews\nWhether they’re facing similar neurodivergent challenges or not, readers will appreciate Addie’s honesty, and they may follow her lead in reconsidering history.”
–The Bulletin\n"The writer (autistic herself) busts some myths about neuro-divergency as she presents a flawed, loving, believable family and a convincing, nuanced, and very likable main character with a distinctive voice.”
–The Horn Book
About the Author
Elle McNicoll is a debut children’s author from Scotland, now living in East London. As a neurodivergent writer, she is passionate about disability rights and representation.
A Kind of Spark is her first novel. You can find her online at ellemcnicoll.com and on Twitter.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
“This handwriting is utterly disgraceful.”
I hear the words, but they seem far away. As if they are being shouted through a wall. I continue to stare at the piece of paper in front of me. I can read it. I can make out every word, even through the blurriness of tears. I feel everyone in the classroom watching me. My best friend. Her new friend. The new girl. Some of the boys are laughing.
I just keep staring at my writing. Then, suddenly, it’s gone.
Ms. Murphy has snatched it from my desk and is now ripping it up. The sound of the paper being torn is overly loud. Right in my ears. The characters in the story I was writing beg her to stop, but she doesn’t. She crumples it all together and throws it toward the classroom bin. She misses. My story lies in a heap on the scratchy carpet.
“Do not ever write so lazily again!” she shouts.
Maybe she isn’t even shouting, but it feels that way. “Do you hear me, Adeline?” I prefer being called Addie. “Not ever. A girl your age knows better than to write like that; your handwriting is like a baby’s.”
I wish my sister were here. Keedie always explains the things that I cannot control or explain for myself. She makes sense of them. She understands.
“Tell me that you understand!”
Her shouts are so loud and the moments after are so quiet. I nod shakily. Even though I don’t understand. I just know it’s what I’m supposed to do.
She says nothing more. She moves to the front of the class and I am left alone. I can feel the new girl glancing at me, and my friend Jenna is whispering to her new friend, Emily.
We were supposed to have Mrs. Bright this year; we met her briefly before the summer holidays. She would draw a little sun