Rating: 
Summary: good but
Review: i liked the stroy however i dont think it protrayed tourettes in the most accurate way. however the story was good and you really felt for icy so i still recomend. i would just warn pepole about the tourette descrption.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD AND BAD
Review: this book was good and bad in that it was good in thebeginning, and it [was bad] at the end! it was interesting in some parts, but then the ending was horrible. i felt like the author was trying to convert me to some religion in the end. it was also like she was writing, and then thought to herself, "oh! i have already written 300 pages....i need to stop writing about this." IT WAS HORRIBLE. definitely not worth your time OR money!
Rating: 
Summary: WEAK PLOT; INSIPID DIALOGUE; POORLY WRITTEN
Review: It is very difficult for me to understand how such a book got published. Perhaps it isn't how you write, it's whom you know. Although the title of my review is really quite clear, I would like to add that the author is very inconsistent when it comes to Icy Sparks' narrations and conversations. At times Gwyn Rubio has Icy coming across as a college-educated individual; at other times she has her coming across as a barefoot gal "from them thar' hills." There just is no consistency here, and I consider this poor writing.I have done quite a bit of reading and research on Tourette's Syndrome, and never have I come across any information that would lead me to glean that a Tourette's Syndrome sufferer's eyes can pop out like a frog's. I imagine they can grow pretty wide, but Rubio would have the reader believe that Icy's eyes literally periodically popped out of their sockets like a frog's eyes. If that is not what she meant, that still is how it came across. And if that is one of the possible symptoms of Tourette's Syndrome, it is news to me. The ending was very weak and seemed sort of pulled together as a last resort because the author didn't know how else to end this tedious tale.
Rating: 
Summary: Great emotions
Review: I love books that make you feel what the characters are feeling. I could totally feel the pain of Icy Sparks. I could feel her loneliness, sadness, frustration, anger, etc. Maybe it was because I was once a kid having to deal with the ridicule of others.
Rating:
Summary: Icy Sparks
Review: Gwyn Hyman Rubio provides a great lesson in her wonderful book ICY SPARKS. She has brought to the forefront Tourette's Syndrome, and teaches us how to be compassionate and tolerant. These important attitudes are obviously part and parcel of the author and of this wonderful book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting..
Review: The characters stay with you long after you read it. It makes you think...
Rating:
Summary: Would be flawless except for messy ending.
Review: I read this book after watching a show on Oprah featuring this book along with people whom suffer form Tourettes Syndrome. I thought it was fascinating and very informative. I enjoyed this book because the author does such an outstanding job of creating a realistic and sympathetic charactor. Icy had spunk, motivation and wisdom which were all weighed down by Tourettes Syndrome. Even though she was an eager student she was isolated because of her disease and the public's ignorance in dealing with it. Even though Icy encountered cruelty and abuse through teachers and hospital employees, she was not downtroden or broken. She focused on the gentle and loving people in her life. I feel the author did a good job of maintaining the pace and narration throughout the book. I would even give it five stars if it were not for the ending. It is unclear how such an entertaining and clever book could earn such a vacant ending. I got the impression that the author must have had a deadline and was rushed to wrap things up. All the rich character development and emotional depths deserved a much more refined ending. I feel that this was certainly a worthwhile read and would encourage anybody at the highschool level to read this as it does promote acceptance and kindness. I will read other books by this author. Yet am hopeful that she will do a better job of wrapping up the story's ending.
Rating: 
Summary: A typical Oprah pick...
Review: Each time I swear I'll never read another Oprah book again, I go ahead and break down, hoping I'll find another Jewel... This novel is typical of the kind of books Oprah tends to choose: books that fill themselves with themes of downtroddenness, differentness, abusive childhoods, all sorts of misunderstanding by the public at large of the main character, and the eventual individual "enlightenment" that comes to said main character when they just come to terms with and embrace themselves. Icy seemed to fit this same mold. My main disappointment with this book was just that there was "nothing new under the sun" in it: the characters were steriotypical all-bad or all-good, the descriptions fell flat, and the plot plodded along slowly and sometimes pointlessly. The wrap-it-all-up, abrupt ending where they all "got religion" was just plain irritating. I honestly think this book could have been so much more than it was - with thoughtful editing, this novel could have been greatly fine-tuned. I so respect Oprah for the work she's done in encouraging more people to really get into reading; I simply wish she could find and offer some truly great literature within her genre - something like Potok's The Chosen or Davita's Harp or Carter's The Education of Little Tree...
Rating:
Summary: WOW! A 3 DAY READ!
Review: What a great book! What more can I say??? I read the book in 3 days, which for me is fast! I couldnt put it down! Anyone who has ever felt like an outcast for any reason, can relate to the characters in this story. Icy is a wonderfully bright, and intriguing character! Gwyn...an excellent book about triumph over adversity.
Rating:
Summary: Our Discussion Group's thoughts...
Review: We were sadly disappointed in the weak, over-used one-dimensional characters who apparently had to be either nicey-nice or the vile and wicked in order to rate a mention in this story. We were likewise disappointed in the story line which made us feel that the author thought that coming from the Kentucky "hollers" or having hill country innocence (like the grandmother and grandfather) was almost criminal, instead of the circumstance that many found themselves in. While we never regret reading any book, it was difficult to find something good to say about this one. We did, however, came up with the fact that this book clearly shows that any town can be made up of lot's of very "different" people which in it's own way makes us all "normal".
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