Rating: 
Summary: entertaining
Review: Ms Rubio told Icy Spark's story and who are we to change it according to our understanding? Growing up in a small eastern Ky town, I have known many Icy Sparks. Her story caused me to reflect on my youth and the lonely, tortured lives of many of my (different) school mates. Yes, I believe from experience that children do have what one critic called mature thoughts when they are faced with abusive parents, teachers or peers.This novel was Ms Rubios first and I look forward to her next endeavor.
Rating: 
Summary: A charming, delightful book
Review: Icy Sparks is a wonderful book - both funny and touching. Ms. Rubio finds the humanity in most of her characters. Reading the book in public, I found myself laughing out loud before I realized it. The next minute, tears came.The story, although moving leisurely, reads quickly. This reader didn't want it to end.
Rating: 
Summary: A delightful story of being different.
Review: Hats off to the author! A well written, descriptive story of a young girl who was "different", a sharing of her trials, her joys and her sorrows. During this period of time in Appalachia,and probably anyplace else, it was difficult to be different and to be singled out, as the author has well expressed. A book that makes us look within ourselves and reminds us of people we knew and know today who may seems different. It is a reminder that human kindness can be the greatest factor influencing someone's life. This was a joy to read and I am thankful to the author for being able to share this with us.
Rating:
Summary: A good first novel well worth reading
Review: I would like to counteract the following customer comments from "a reader in the Appalachian mountains," who was so bored by the book. His or her remarks are shortsighted, even malicious, and should not be heeded by thoughtful readers looking for good fiction. That customer gives himself (or herself) away as a small-time, limited reader by remarking against "the idea that a child of 10 years old could have such mature thoughts." In the first place, such a reader probably never encountered Huck Finn, who could have such mature thoughts at the age of 14, or Jo, who could have such mature thoughts in LITTLE WOMEN. In the second place, that reader fails to notice that the book is written by Icy Sparks as a grown-up, looking back on her early years. ICY SPARKS tells the story of how an orphaned girl in the Kentucky mountains comes to grips with a terrible affliction, the "cussing disease," that years later she will identify as Tourette's Syn! drome. Her behavior mystifies her community and causes her great humiliation, particularly among her classmates, who call her the "Frog Child." But her condition of being an outcast, which leads eventually to incarceration in a children's asylum, should be understood as a metaphor for the condition of anyone who is a loner, a misfit, a stranger to "conventional" society. How she learns to live with her condition, and how she triumphs over it, makes a compelling story that will entertain and instruct any reader...except the sort of misguided soul who wrote the following unfortunate words:
Rating: 
Summary: A sad, funny tale of a young girl's coming of age in KY.
Review: "What a grand person Icy Sparks is! What a wonderful book her story makes! The pages of this novel almost turn themselves as the narrative glides gracefully from sorrow to sorrow, from joy to joy. Gwyn Hyman Rubio is a marvelous writer. Too grateful to envy, I admire and applaud her triumph and hope that everyone will share it with me." -- Fred Chappell, author of Moments of Light, Brighten the Corner Where you Are, and Farewell, I'm Bound To Have You "ICY SPARKS speaks to us in an entirely new voice, painfully wise and wonderfully peculiar. In her original first novel, Gwyn Rubio makes us see that the tics and noises her remarkable heroine can't suppress are the pure expressions of a brave and lively spirit." -- Francine Prose, author of Hunters and Gatherers "Gwyn Hyman Rubio twists together her dark and comic visions to create a world so marvelous and strange that it takes one's breath. Her subject is the entanglem! ents of order and disorder in a rural Kentucky setting of the 1950s, and she turns them upside down in a way that challenges our own definitions of where and how we live. She is an extraordinary writer." -- Stephen Dobyns, author of The Church of the Dead Girls "ICY SPARKS is a work of imagination, about being different in a world whose difference brings separation and pain. Icy, in 1950s Appalachia, finds community with others who also don't fit in and acquires an outlook that is wise, serious, and yet comic." -- Loyal Jones, editor of Reshaping the Image of Appalachia "A most original work of fiction. ICY SPARKS is an important contribution to the literature that helps us know the emotional realities of wounded people. It is also one of the few novels of the Appalachian region that goes beyond the description of external reality and places the reader in direct touch with the interior lives of its characters. Brilliant." ! -- Gurney Norman, author Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stori! es ICY SPARKS (Viking) is the sad, funny, and transcendent tale of a young girl growing up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky during the 1950s. Gwyn Hyman Rubio's beautifully written first novel revolves around Icy Sparks, an unforgettable heroine in the tradition of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or Will Tweedy in Cold Sassy Tree. At the age of ten, Icy, a bright, curious child orphaned as a baby but raised by adoring grandparents, begins to have strange experiences. Try as she might, her "secrets" -- verbal croaks, groans, and physical spasms -- keep afflicting her. As an adult, she will find out she has Tourette's Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, but for years her behavior is the source of mystery, confusion, and deep humiliation. Narrated by a grown-up Icy, the book chronicles a difficult, but ultimately hilarious and heartwarming journey, from her first spasms to her self-acceptance as a young woman. Curious about life beyond the hills, tale! nted, and energetic, Icy learns to cut through all barriers -- physical, mental, and spiritual -- in order to find community and acceptance. Along her journey, Icy faces the jeers of her classmates as well as the malevolence of her often ignorant teachers -- including Mrs. Stilton, one of the most evil fourth grade teachers ever created by a writer. Called willful by her teachers and "Frog Child" by her schoolmates, she is exiled from the schoolroom and 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 and those who are even more scarred than she. Yet it isn't until Icy returns home that she really begins to flower, especially through her friendship with the eccentric and obese Miss Emily, who knows first-hand how it feels to be an outcast in this tightly knit Appalachian community. Under Miss Emily's tutelage, Icy learns about life's struggles and rewards, s! urvives her first comical and heartbreaking misadventure wi! th romance, discovers the healing power of her voice when she sings, and ultimately -- takes her first steps back into the world. Gwyn Hyman Rubio's ICY SPARKS is a fresh, original, and completely redeeming novel about learning to overcome others' ignorance and celebrate the differences that make each of us unique. About the Author Gywn Hyman Rubio was born in Macon, Georgia. She is the daughter of Mac Hyman, the author of No Time for Sergeants, the bestselling novel which was later made into a film starring Andy Griffith. She has had short fiction published in literary journals and anthologies, and her writing has been awarded grants from the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. She and her husband, Angel, live in Berea, Kentucky.
Rating:
Summary: I loved Icy
Review: I really liked this book, and I am fairly easily "bored" with some books, and am definately turned off by saccharine stories. I listened to the audio version, and never felt as though it was moving too slowly. I enjoyed all of the narrative. My 9 and 13 year old girls liked it very much also (although I fast-forwarded through the section where Icy and PeeVee have their conflict). When I listen to the tape on the way to work, Icy stays with me all day. I would recommend it to anyone interested in coming-of-age stories with a twist.
Rating:
Summary: A semi-decent read
Review: In the book "Icy Sparks" by Gwyn Rubio, a little girl in the 1950s goes through times of difiiculty. Icy, the main character has Tourett symdrome and everyone in her town looks poorly on her. The same way another lady is treated named Miss Emily. Miss Emily is an obese lady and the whole town makes fun of her when she walks by and such. When i first picked up the book and started reading, nothing really interested me. Nothing caught my attention, but through the middle, it started to pick up. The author Gwyn Rubio, does a great job describing every time Icy has an outburst. Other than the great job that the author does describing the story, I think the storyline was not that great, but it was funny at times. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a relaxed reading and a good laugh.
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: Just plain bad.
Review: Not interesting. Disturbingly bad. Read anything else you can find.
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.
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