I believe A Kind of Spark is an important read for other autistic people to feel seen and for neurotypical people to attempt to understand what life is like through our eyes. Babysitter from Hell: Addie and her sisters, Nina and Keedie were left in the care of a local woman who worked as a social worker, Mrs Craig who physically abused Keedie because she refused to eat the dinner Mrs Craig made for her. Addie remembers her throwing a plate and pinning Keedie to the floor until a neighbour heard the screaming and intervened. Addie remembers that Keedie didn't come out of her room for days afterward. The Illegible: Thanks to her motor control problems, Addie has poor handwriting, which results in her teacher Miss Murphy ripping up her story, throwing it away, and screaming at her for writing "lazily." ENGLISH The autistic community sees... so much ableism, and so many people trying to tell our stories and speak for us. So to have a book like this, for children, means so much. I've already read this book twice, because I found it somewhat hard to read at first and wanted to give myself the opportunity to really let it sink in and to form an actual opinion on it. It wasn't hard at first because I didn't like the book, but because it hit a little too close to home and I read it at a time where I couldn't handle that very well. The second time I read it, I found it such an empowering book. Addie is an extremely relatable main character, even for me at 27 years old, and it gave me so much strength to see how she stood up for herself and dealt with her teacher's and classmate's bullying. I would highly recommend this to everyone who's autistic and everyone who wants to understand autistic people better.

Big Sister Instinct: Nina and Keedie both fiercely defend Addie to her cruel teacher when she's almost suspended for beating up a bully. Addie: "While you may be neurotypical and I'm autistic, I promise. We are more alike than we are different." The Atoner: In the series, Jenna realizes how cruel she's been to Addie and how her complacency in Emily's bullying has negatively affected her friendship with Addie, and with Audrey's help, she gets the courage to not only stand up to Ms. Murphy on Addie's behalf, but call out Emily for what she's done.Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors. We have fallen in love with Addie, whose courage and determination are a guiding light, often reminding the world that kindness must prevail wherever we go,” added Martin. I'm struggling with how to write my review of this because I feel it's such an important book to read, and I can't quite express how much I want everyone to read it. I've given it 4 stars, but this, I cannot stress enough, is purely due to my own personal taste plot wise. I'm not a massive fan of contemporary or witches. This takes nothing away from how amazing this book is. Written by an own voices, neurodivergent author, you can really feel Addie's emotions and struggles because you know just how real they are. Every injustice, every act of unfairness, stands out and hits the reader in the gut. So many times I wanted to cry when an unkind word is thrown Addie's way, and when an adult dismisses her feelings and opinions. A stunning, moving and powerful book with a main character a lot of people - children and adults - should look up to.

Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: However, the narrative makes it clear that Emily and Miss Murphy can’t use their troubles as an excuse to hurt others. 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. A must-read for students and adults alike. -School Library Journal, Starred Review Ever 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. I’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. Award-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. A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll – eBook DetailsEver 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. Bayan Murphy gibi "zorba" öğretmenleri zamanında yediğim dayaklardan iyi bilirim. O zaman aileler arasında da "eti senin kemiği benim"ci anlayış vardı. Neyse ki artık daha bilinçlendiğini düşünüyorum, en azından umuyorum. Lakin hala zorba öğretmenlerin olduğuna da yüzde yüz eminim. İlkokul öğrencilerini tokatlayan, kulağını çeken, kafasını tahtaya vuran, sözlü tacizde ve psikolojik şiddette bulunan Duygu Tural, biz senden çok çektik ve bizim sana karşı koyacak gücümüz yoktu. Umarım sen de hayattan çok çekmişsindir. Bad Influencer: Nina shows shades of this, choosing to work on a video instead of watching Addie and having Addie appear in a video without anticipating people trolling her. The TV series adds in a subplot depicting the Juniper witch hunt in the 16th century, following Maggie Frasier, a new character created solely for the series, alongside her sister Elinor, the maid Beth, and the witch hunter Adam Quinn running parallel to Addie in the present day trying to solve the mystery of what happened to Maggie.