Rating: 
Summary: A Great Listen
Review: Just a quick note to let everyone know. I thought the audio book of this was terrific.
Rating:
Summary: Nice read
Review: My best friend has a bad habit when it comes to buying birthday presents. He keeps picking up random books and giving them to me (at least he knows I enjoy reading...). He's always been fairly successful, however with Icy Sparks, he made a great, if unsupported, choice. From reading other reviews, I'm sure you get the general idea that this novel deals with a young girl with Tourette's Syndrome. The reader follows Icy as she deals with rejection from society, her experiences with her own and others' disabilities, and her own fear in rejoining the world. I feel there is a lot of courage taken when confronting the topic of a disability, as well as Rubio's look at group care of the disabled at one point. It isn't pretty, it isn't familiar, but it's realistic and makes for a compelling read. Although I did not have much in common with Icy, I was with her emotionally the entire book. I felt her frustration, confusion, and lonliness. Please don't take that as an indication that this book is all depression... very much to the contrary. Please give Icy and her story a try. I think you will feel, if not entertained, at least enlightened.
Rating: 
Summary: Just plain bad.
Review: Not interesting. Disturbingly bad. Read anything else you can find.
Rating: 
Summary: Icy Sparks
Review: This is a poor southern story focusing on a young girl named Icy Sparks, who has various physical and social problems while growing up... She is raised by her grandparents because her mother died when she was very young. As a youngster, Icy has unusual outbursts that cause her to be ostracized by the people in the small southern town where she is raised. To make matters worse, she has very few friends, except for Miss Emily. Miss Emily is an obese old maid who gives her advice on life and encourages her to go to college. The story centers on Icy's thoughts and perspectives and in the end teaches a lesson to all of us on overcoming and not giving up. The plot, though interesting and full of great description, is slow and somewhat boring.
Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Terrible
Review: This is one of the worst books that I have ever read. I should have quit after the first few chapters, but kept thinking that it might get better. Don't bother with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good First Novel
Review: This novel is simply written and direct and tells the story of a girl growing up with a mysterious condition that makes her a social outcast. She suffers from bouts of tics, jerks, uncontrollable verbal outbursts, and all the social and psychological fallout such bizarre behavior brings. Icy Sparks makes her way through school in rural Kentucky in the 1950s, and meets up with an ignorant teacher and teasing classmates, which only make matters worse. Both of Icy's parents are dead, and she's being raised by caring and loving grandparents, but there is reference to a genetic link to her father for her condition.
Icy's life plays out realistically, which makes it clear that this story must be autobiographical.
What makes this story unique is the rarity of its telling in literature. I did find the ending a bit much, although the scenes at the end were rendered well. It's only in the last two pages that we discover Icy's condition to be that of Tourette's Syndrome, which makes the book all the more effective.
For anyone with this condition or who has children with this condition, this novel is must reading. For all others, it's also good to understand and empathize with those burdened with this genetic problem.
Rating: 
Summary: Icy Sparks fails to produce a flame...
Review: While this book was a tad interesting and somewhat entertaining, it wasn't a page-turner. Having worked with the mentally challenged, I'm aware of Tourette's Syndrome and its many nuances. While the depiction of the disorder was surprisingly accurate, that alone can't save a rather stale plot. The fact that the majority of the characters in the story are one-sided makes them seem fake. Matanni and Patanni are both so sweet and good that it makes you wonder if they've ever sinned in their lives! And Wilma, caregiver at the mental institution, was so entirely, sickeningly evil...there's no way a person like that could possibly exist. Even a disgusting monster like Jeffrey Dahmer had manners! And Miss Emily...enormously fat, misunderstood, and yet constantly jolly. How many times have we seen that role played before? The only parts of the book that I enjoyed were the beautiful, vivid descriptions of the mountains and the lush landscape of Icy's lovely (although rather protected) home. I also enjoyed seeing Peavy Lawson change from the school dork to the charming beau. I should quit complaining. Icy Sparks wasn't a bad book, NO NO! It just lacks a little ingenuity. While the concept of a 1950s Kentucky pre-teen suffering from Tourette's Syndrome is undoubtedly unique, the story-line needs some work as do the characters. Read this book if you are looking for something different. I wouldn't buy it, though; I'd borrow it.
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