A Kind of Spark by Ellie McNicoll

A Kind of Spark by Ellie McNicoll is a book about being different, being discriminated against and having to fight in order to be heard and accepted. It has the underlying message that it is ok to be different, and we should accept and learn about each other's differences. A Kind of Spark follows Autistic girl Addie on her journey to introduce a memorial for the witches who died in Juniper for being different. Addie feels that these witches were very much like her and were killed for things which were beyond their control. The book also shows how little has changed in the present day in terms of discrimination. The book does an excellent job of introducing the reader to autism and how it affects autistic people in a fictional manner, which nicely accompanies the story.

I really liked this book just as much as I have enjoyed watching the television series on BBC of the same name. I actually liked this book so much that I read it all in one day in one sitting, which I am very proud of. Yes, this is a gripping and well-thought-out story that entertains both younger and older readers. I think, however, that the unique selling point of this book is how the neurodivergent author has written a book with and about neurodivergent characters both for neurodivergent and neurotypical readers. This is something which is actually very rare, especially with it being able to show how different autism is for different people rather than just including characters with only the worst autism, I will come back to this point soon. Unlike Sia's movie Music, A Kind of Spark really is a "love letter" for autistic people as it seems to reflect the experiences of so many autistic individuals. 

There is not much I can really say that I dislike about this book. At the start, the plot seems to have moved on very quickly and jumped straight into the main story without much of an introduction or a build-up. However, this does not impact on the quality or value of the book. It takes some adjusting as this is not something I am really used to in many other books, but it can be seen as a nice change. There is also the use of some very discriminatory language, which I believe the author, at one point, was reluctant to include. However, this is definitely not a negative point, and I agree that it was necessary to include this term to highlight how wrong it is. This is particularly the case with how such language is still readily used by many people, particularly teenagers and occasionally young adults.

This brings me back to one of my main points. This book is about being different. This is mainly in terms of being neurodivergent, but there is also an implicit hint in the book that it can even extend to racism with what I would consider a somewhat racist comment by one of the characters. McNicoll has done an outstanding job advocating how we should not treat anyone differently because of their differences, and despite covering racism more implicitly, it was mainly regarding autism, meaning McNicoll was not trying to cover too many issues, which is the downfall of nearly every other such book. This is actually the first book of its kind on autism, which has educated about the differences autistic people face along with some ways to accommodate these differences, which has not gone into detail about the authors' personal views or tried to cover too many issues. I think the fictional nature of this book is the reason for this. Even more importantly, if we want to live in a more accepting society, then we need to show how it is okay to be different to children of a young age but to do so in a fun and interesting way. A fictional book such as A Kind of Spark is an outstanding way to achieve this mission. Having said that, it may have been nice to see more details regarding the autism part of this book, although the amount of detail featured is still very good and I like it how they were being shared by Addie throughout the book as she was educating her friend Audrey on autism.

Altogether, I rate this book 4 stars as it is a very gripping and interesting fictional story which also has educated and advocated for some very real issues and differences, that of being autistic and the discrimination that many people face in life, not only for bringing neurodiverse. Elle McNicoll has done an outstanding job writing this book and is indeed a very talented author whom I hope will write many more novels, definitely on the same issues and hopefully with the same characters who are (almost) all very likeable. I would highly recommend this book.