The highly-anticipated prequel to the award-winning A KIND OF SPARK.
Before there was Addie, there was Keedie. Five years before the events of A Kind of Spark, Keedie is figuring out how to be her bold, brave self in a town that wants her to be quiet. Her twin sister Nina seems to care more about being popular, and Keedie knows her little sister Addie is more similar to her than her family knows.
When she starts standing up to people’s bullies for them, everyone wants her to pretend nothing is wrong with the way things are in Juniper. But firecracker Keedie wants things to change… and she wants things to be better for Addie. As she sets out to right wrongs and stand up for the truth, the sleepy town of Juniper is about to wake up and see that Keedie is one of a kind.
Featured in Waterstones Best Paperbacks of the Year 2024 selection
Creators
Elle McNicoll is a bestselling and award-winning Scottish novelist. Her debut, A Kind of Spark, won the Blue Peter Book Award and the Overall Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, as well as Blackwell’s Book of 2020. She is Carnegie nominated, and was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Awards 2020, the Branford Boase Award and The Little Rebels Award.
Her second novel, Show Us Who You Are, was Blackwell’s Book of the Month and one of The Bookseller’s Best Books of 2021. She is an advocate for better representation of neurodiversity in publishing, and currently lives in London.
Reviews
This book would make a great class read or book group choice for younger secondary school readers. It offers multiple entry points for readers – the exploration of sibling relationships, the realistic depiction of living with autism, the theme of bullying and the slight mystery of surrounding the town’s history. Highly recommended.
CBCA Reading Time
