Icy Sparks
   Gwyn Hyman Rubio
   (Guest Reviewer - Sandi von Pier)
  2001 Viking Penguin
    ISBN: 0142000205


In this sad, funny & transcendent tale of a young adopted girl with the strange physical expressions of Tourette's Syndrome, grows up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky during the 1950s.

Guest Reviewer Sandi von Pier writes:

At the age of ten, Icy, a bright, curious child orphaned as a baby & raised by adoring grandparents, begins to have strange experiences. Try as she might, her “secrets” - verbal croaks, groans, & physical spasms - keep afflicting her. Only as an adult will she find out she has Tourette's Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, but for years her behavior is the source of mystery, confusion, & deep humiliation.

Narrated by a grown up Icy, the book chronicles a difficult, but ultimately heartwarming journey, from her first spasms to her self--acceptance as a young woman.

Curious about life beyond the hills, talented, & energetic, Icy learns to cut through all barriers - physical, mental, & spiritual in order to find community & acceptance.

Along her journey, Icy faces the jeers of her classmates as well as the malevolence of her ignorant teachers - including Mrs. Stilton, one of the most evil fourth grade teachers ever created by a writer.

Called willful by her teachers & “Frog Child” by her schoolmates, she is exiled from the schoolroom & sent to a children's asylum where it is hoped that the roots of her mysterious behavior can be discovered. Here Icy learns about difference - her own & those who are even more scarred than she. It isn't until Icy returns home that she really begins to flower, especially through her friendship with the eccentric & obese Miss Emily, who knows firsthand how it feels to be an outcast in this tightly knit Appalachian community.

Under Miss Emily's tutelage, Icy learns about life's struggles & rewards, survives her first comical & heartbreaking misadventure with romance, discovers the healing power of her voice when she sings, & ultimately, takes her first steps back into the world.

Gwyn Hyman Rubio's Icy Sparks is a fresh, original, & completely redeeming novel about learning to overcome others' ignorance & celebrating the differences that make each of us unique.

The author made me feel as though I was right beside Icy as she tells her own story. I can only begin to understand how the tormenting must have hurt not to mention just not knowing what is wrong with her. In the 1950s Tourettes Syndrome was not a known disorder. The ignorance & unacceptance of everyone from the children to the teachers was unbelievable. Even now people are not that accepting of “differences.”

The book tells about when she made her first “CROAK” & all that went on in-between. She was even committed to an asylum! Rubio's descriptions of the surrounding hills & land made me want to escape there. Icy sure did. But knew she needed more than just the farm with her loving, supportive grandparents. At least she had a few people that accepted her.

I have children of my own & know only too well how much words can hurt. Even as a grown up words hurt. Remember the ugly ducking often turns into the beautiful, graceful swan. This can also be said of Icy. Everyone needs to find his or her niche. Icy's is in song.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story until its end. Where are the details on how Icy was diagnosed with Tourettes? Suddenly she's in college & her secret is now known. So many wonderful details in the beginning & middle...so flat at the end. I was let down, I wanted more!

Gwyn Hyman Rubio's first novel revolves around an unforgettable heroine in the tradition of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or Will Treed in Cold Sassy Tree.
(10/07/01)

Sandi von Pier
A RebeccasReads.com Guest Reviewer