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Summary
Summary
From award-winning author Pablo Cartaya comes a deeply moving middle grade novel about a daughter and father finding their way back to each other in the face of their changing family and community.
A SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARD HONOR FOR MIDDLE GRADE
Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. It's hard for her to follow along at school, and sometimes she forgets to do what her mom or abuela asks. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. When Dad returns from deployment, Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal. Instead, it unravels.
Dad shuts himself in the back stall of their family's auto shop to work on an old car. Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over. Then, he teaches her how to weld. And over time, flickers of her old dad reappear.
But as Emilia finds a way to repair the relationship with her father at home, her community ruptures with some of her classmates, like her best friend, Gus, at the center of the conflict.
Each Tiny Spark by Pablo Cartaya is a tender story about asking big questions and being brave enough to reckon with the answers.
Author Notes
Pablo Cartaya is an award-winning author, speaker, actor, and educator. In 2018, he received a Pura Belpré Author Honor for his middle grade novel The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora . His second novel, Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish , is available now. Learn more about Pablo at pablocartaya.com and follow him on Twitter @phcartaya.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tension ignites in this layered, culturally rich novel set in an Atlanta suburb when Cuban-American Emilia's software developer mother leaves on a business trip just as her father returns from military deployment. Cartaya (Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish) sensitively portrays how this upheaval amplifies the 12-year-old's Inattentive Type ADHD--without her mother's support, Emilia struggles to cope with assignments, friendships, and devoted but controlling Abuela. Amid this turmoil, Emilia and her father bond over welding, but the girl doesn't comprehend his mood swings, which she gradually comes to understand as PTSD. Cartaya deftly sketches her family's variable takes on Emilia's heritage--her abuela touts their European roots and Emilia's fair skin, while her mother highlights her Yoruba ancestry--and seamlessly weaves Spanish into the narrative. As a school project awakens Emilia's awareness of her town, she takes an interest in timely immigration issues as well as economic and racial prejudices around proposed school redistricting, and she comes to recognize and confront a friend's bigotry. The narrative appropriately tackles tough topics with grace through the lens of this memorable heroine. Ages 10--up. Agent: Jess Regel, Foundry Literary + Media. (Aug.)
Booklist Review
If you've ever wondered how it is inside the mind of a person with inattentive type ADHD, this book offers a peek. Emilia Rosa struggles with her distractibility, but when something interests her, like tinkering with old cars or the controversies surrounding some district rezoning in her Georgia town, she latches on and digs deep. Her middle-school social studies project on local tourism brings out the activist in her, leading to a chain reaction that causes some minor hullaballoo in her school. Meanwhile, Emilia is trying to reconnect with her father, who's home from active duty; missing her mother, who's working away from home; and struggling to understand her abuela. This story covers themes like honoring your roots, seeking the truth, cultivating empathy, and being a good communicator. Besides a look at a distractible thinker's thought processes, this book also offers insight on the immigrant experience. For Emilia, all it takes is one, tiny spark to get the ball rolling, and plenty of kids will relate to her passion and perseverance.--Kristina Pino Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
WHEN IT COMES to crossing the border between childhood and adolescence, sixth grade functions as customs department. Elementary travelers, supremely confident on their home soil, enter their inaugural year of middle school clutching their locker combinations like passports. A few crushes, heartbreaks and misunderstood text messages later, they emerge on the other side, wide-eyed and wiser at having declared their intentions and identity. Three new novels explore this transition, preparing readers for their tumultuous journey into tweendom. THE 47 PEOPLE YOU'LL MEET IN MIDDLE SCHOOL (Knopf, 304 pp., $16.99; ages 8 to 12), by Kristin Mahoney, is a literal guidebook to this new land. Big sister Augusta, or Gus, attempts to explain the mysteries of sixth grade to little Lou by describing all the characters she encounters at Meridian Middle. (Thankfully, unlike the main character in the similarly named adult novel by Mitch Albom, Gus doesn't have to die first.) The lineup includes several familiar folks who will be instantly recognizable to current and former middle schoolers, including the "scary teacher," the "friend you don't recognize because she turned into a whole new person over the summer" and the "kid with questionable hygiene." As she proceeds through the list, a story emerges of Gus's slowly growing confidence, the reverberating impact of an amicable but still distressing divorce on her family, and the exciting, frustrating process of finding "your people... the ones who make you feel at home in your own skin," as explained by amiable Mrs. Barakat, the "favorite teacher." While many of the scenarios Gus outlines are prosaic (the ill-advised snoop in the teacher's desk, the school dance that goes all kinds of wrong), she does have a memorable #MeToo moment when she brings down "The Gooser," the school's notorious butt-pincher, via anonymous note. Because even in the minds of modern middle schoolers well versed in antibullying rhetoric, snitches can still get stitches. As Gus wearily observes, "Sometimes you can't depend on teachers to save the day." If Gus occasionally sounds a tad too perceptive for a sixth grader ("It was like I didn't just need physical space; I also needed space in my head. For all the things I was starting to wonder about more"), it works here, because, as every middle school student (and parent) knows, "Reflecting is a big thing middle school teachers are into." What this novel's target audience wants is reassurance, which Gus's confused yet consoling voice provides in spades. IN PABLO CARTAYA'S EACH TINY SPARK (Kokila, 315 pp., $16.99; ages 8 to 12), a Sixth grader who already feels different because of her A.D.H.D. diagnosis begins to feel like a stranger in her own suburban Atlanta town. When Emilia is assigned to create a tourist guide for Merryville, she starts to see the cultural differences and economic inequalities between her community and that of Park View, a neighboring district. These discrepancies are further highlighted by a proposal to move hundreds of students from overcrowded Park View schools to upscale Merryville Middle. When Emilia's project calls attention to the disparities, she unwittingly fuels a bitter confrontation between her divided classmates. But the disagreement also fires up the students and ignites a palpable interest in the social justice history of their town. Through research conducted with a quintessentially cheerful public librarian, Emilia is at first delighted to discover the outsize role Mexican immigrants played in constructing the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics infrastructure, then dismayed to learn that Georgia's current immigration laws could now force those same people to be deported. The project spurs Emelia's personal growth, helping her navigate equally challenging situations at home, including a distant father who's freshly returned from a lengthy military deployment, and generational conflict between her traditional Catholic abuela and progressive, Afro-Cuban mom. Emilia's dialogue with her familia and her best friend, Gustavo, is sprinkled with Spanish expressions and sentences, adding a welcome ambient cultural tone to the story that encourages non-Spanish readers to draw meaning from context. While the social justice plot will appeal to today's increasingly civic-minded students, where Cartaya really excels is depicting what it feels like inside Emilia's brain. In his author's note, he reveals that his own child has A.D.H.D., and explains with an easy knowledge how Emilia's brain can pingpong from subject to subject when she's distracted ("My middle name is Rose also. Actually, it's Rosa - same as my mom's middle name. Emilia Rosa... on the History Channel I watched a show about a time in England called the War of the Roses. There were two families fighting for the crown and they had a brutal war for centuries") but then home in to a razor focus when she's engaged in something she loves, like the car restoration project she takes on with her dad: "The heat rises and pours out of the gun, sending sparks in every direction. The dark glass protecting my eyes lights up, and the clack-clack-clack illuminates sparks all around me ... they die down as I release the trigger. I place the welding gun safely on the workbench and flip up my shade." Learning the basics of welding from Papi, Emilia finally breaks through her father's emotional wall and earns the nickname "Chispita" ("little spark"). Readers will be inspired by her dogged determination and propulsive curiosity to generate and nurture their own sparks of creativity, leadership or passion. ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD Willa IS Still In fifth grade, but sixth looms large in her imagination throughout NOT IF I CAN HELP IT (Scholastic, 240 pp., $16.99, ages 8 to 12), by Carolyn Mackler. Willa has sensory processing disorder, which for her means an extreme aversion to certain tastes, textures and smells, combined with swings in energy and mood. Socks feel too tight, showers are "too many prickles poking my skin, too much water in my eyes." Her occupational therapist gives her coping strategies for controlling her body, and she maintains a private routine of reminders and checklists at home so she can keep her condition a secret at school, even from her best friend, Ruby. Because of this, Willa dreads change of any kind, and no change is more unavoidable than sixth grade. It is middle school acceptance letter season at her elementary school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and everyone is speculating about where they will be next year. What if she doesn't get into the school of her choice? Worse yet, "what if Ruby and I get into different middle schools and have to be ripped apart after only one year of best friendship? That would be the worst kind of change ever." Willa's worries are quickly replaced by much bigger concerns after Willa's dad and Ruby's mom, both divorced, announce that they have been quietly dating for a year and are considering marriage. While Ruby is thrilled that she and Willa could be stepsisters, Willa is immediately thrown into a tailspin. "I don't want new smells, new furniture, new foods in the fridge ... but mostly I don't want to hide who I am, all the Private Willa stuff, in my own home." And there's the sock rub. If Ruby joins her family and discovers the truth, will she still want to be Willa's best friend? After all, "a friend is nice to have over, but friends go home. They don't stay forever." Like Pablo Cartaya, Mackler is also the parent of a neurodivergent child. She writes convincingly and compassionately of Willa's particular struggles, in an insecure yet ebullient voice that also captures the universal awkwardness of being 11. Who wouldn't relate to the fear of being exposed? By weaving sensory processing disorder in with more typical issues of privacy, divorce and friendship woes, Mackler explains behaviors that children often make fun of but never ask about. Willa's experience will be a revelation to kids who didn't know about the disorder, and a comfort to those who share her condition or know someone who does. Middle school is the very embodiment of the familiar phrase "It's not the destination, it's the journey," and these smartly rendered books are worthy travel companions for young adventurers making their first trip.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4--7--There's a lot going on in Emilia Torres's life. On the day her mom leaves town for a job interview, her dad gets home from a long deployment and something isn't quite right with him. Abuela is trying to run her life, Emilia has an unusual type of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and, worst of all, a class assignment splits students down the middle and creates a rift between kids who have been friends for years. As difficult as it is for her to focus, can Emilia figure out how to placate her grandmother and help her dad heal while standing up against injustice? Cartaya excels at showing realistic tween drama--no explosions, jumping off cliffs, or magic fairies here. However, there's a lot going on, and it may be as hard for younger readers to keep track of everything as it is for Emilia. Although Emilia's problems are not all neatly resolved by the last page, she grows stronger as she moves forward, which is an inspiring conclusion for readers facing their own complicated life situations. VERDICT Hand to tween fans of realistic fiction, especially those who have enjoyed Cartaya's earlier books.--Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX
Kirkus Review
A nuanced novel about a neurodiverse preteen's political and social awakening by a Pura Belpr Honor-winning author.Sixth grader Emilia Rosa Torres sometimes has a hard time keeping up with schoolwork and concentrating on one thing at a time, but her software-developer mother and superinvolved abuelita help her keep on task. Days before her father's return to their Atlanta suburb from his most recent deployment, her mother goes on a business trip, leaving the middle schooler to juggle his mood swings, her friend troubles, and her looming assignments all on her own. When a social studies project opens her eyes to injustices past and present, Emilia begins to find her voice and use it to make an impact on her community. Writing with sensitivity and respectful complexity, Cartaya tackles weighty issues, such as immigration, PTSD, and microaggressions, through the lens of a budding tinkerer and activist who has ADHD. The members of this Cuban American family don't all practice the same religion, with Emilia's Catholic grandmother faithfully attending Mass multiple times a week and the protagonist's mother celebrating her culture's Yoruba roots with Santera. Conversations on race and gender crop up through the narrative as Emilia's grandmother likes to emphasize her family's European heritageEmilia can pass as white, with her fair complexion, light eyes and auburn hair. All of these larger issues are effortlessly woven in with skill and humor, as is the Spanish her family easily mixes with English.A pitch-perfect middle-grade novel that insightfully explores timely topics with authenticity and warmth. (author's note) (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.