Icy Sparks

Icy Sparks is a sparkly, sharp name for a character who struggles to keep her own stars in an acceptable orbit. Raised by her grandparents in Kentucky hill country, Icy tries to fit in despite the inexplicable urges that consume her. Immediately, the listener can empathize with the narrator: What did happen to people, especially children, who had to cope with conditions like Tourette's syndrome before it was understood and recognized? Kate Miller's rendering of the lyrical accent and pent-up emotion is admirable. An engrossing story is smoothly interpreted by Miller; all Icy's frustration, courage, and humor are there for the reader to experience, right up to the inspiring ending. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

August 3, 1998
The diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome isn't mentioned until the last pages of Rubio's sensitive portrayal of a young girl with the disease. Instead, Rubio lets Icy Sparks tell her own story of growing up during the 1950s in a small Kentucky town where her uncontrollable outbursts make her an object of fright and scorn. "The Saturday after my birthday, the eye blinking and poppings began.... I could feel little invisible rubber bands fastened to my eyelids, pulled tight through my brain and attached to the back of my head," says Icy, who thinks of herself as the "frog child from Icy Creek." Orphaned and cared for by her loving grandparents, Icy weathers the taunts of a mean schoolteacher and, later, a crush on a boy that ends in disappointment. But she also finds real friendship with the enormously fat Miss Emily, who offers kindness and camaraderie. Rubio captures Icy's feelings of isolation and brings poignancy and drama to Icy's childhood experiences, to her temporary confinement in a mental institution and to her reluctant introduction--thanks to Miss Emily and Icy's grandmother--to the Pentecostal church through which she discovers her singing talent. If Rubio sometimes loses track of Icy's voice, indulges in unconvincing magical realism and takes unearned poetic license with the speech of her Appalachian grandparents ("`Your skin was as cold as fresh springwater, slippery and strangely soothing to touch'"), her first novel is remarkable for its often funny portrayal of a child's fears, loves and struggles with an affliction she doesn't know isn't her fault. Agent, Susan Golomb; editor, Jane von Mehren.

Embarrassed, confused, and humiliated, Icy Sparks can't always control her popping eyes, flailing arms, and foul mouth. Feeling the approach of such an episode, she usually flees to a private place, but escape is not always possible. Growing up in the '50s in rural Kentucky, neither she nor anyone around her has heard of Tourette's Syndrome. Kate Forbes's soft Southern twang brings a stunning sense of realism to the harsh Appalachian dialect, creating within it the individual characters in Icy's life. She portrays Icy's sense of despair and frustration with a hard flatness that softens over time as Icy learns to accept her own quirks. Others in the story receive equally thoughtful portrayals. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine