Packed full of empathy, bravery and (to be honest) sheer badassery, this is the perfect prequel to McNicoll’s debut, A Kind of Spark. There is not a single word wasted in this powerhouse of a book, and Keedie leaps off of the page from the very start. Fizzing with energy, this book will keep you absolutely captivated and, yes there will probably be tears and some cathartic rage screams but that’s how you know that this book is embedding itself into your soul. An absolutely fantastic read, and one I’ll return to again and again.

Keedie is a powerful tale of navigating friendships, family and teenage life whilst living in a world that struggles to make sense of you. Bold, brilliant and brave, this is extraordinary storytelling at its best.

McNicoll returns to Juniper with the ferocious, brilliant voice of Keedie, and man I am so excited to be back with her. This is a prequel to A Kind of Spark, set five years earlier. As their fourteenth birthday approaches, Keedie and Nina feel further apart than ever. Nina has fallen in with the popular crowd, who seem intent on making everyone’s lives misery. Infuriated by the rampant bullying around her, Keedie decides to open an anti-bulling service where she’ll confront people’s bullies for them. Meanwhile, Keedie starts to realise that their younger sister Addie might be more like her than they realise. This is a fantastic story of standing up for those who stand out, led by literature’s fiercest autistic girl. It feels trite to say this book is about kindness, because I worry that might give the wrong almost twee impression. It’s about the value of kindness, of respect, of justice, and just a little bit of revenge, when warranted. It’s brash and bold and furious, just like Keedie herself. I fell in love with Keedie back when I first read A Kind of Spark in proof years ago. She’s a character who has always felt so close to my heart — her impulsiveness is very familiar to me — and her novel has such an urgency to it. My proof copy came with four chocolates and I was so hooked on reading that I only ate one. It’s a you only ate 25% of your snacks because you were feeling too much book. As always, I laughed and cried and dog-eared the edges because I love this book so much.

Thank you to the publishers for this early review copy. What can I really say but another absolutely great read from Elle! It looks at how we might all be different for whatever reason, we are all unique. It looks at school life and bullying. The characters are fantastic as always. This is a brilliant prequal to A Kind of Spark. Very happy to recommend all of Elle's books to everyone, children, parents, teachers and everyone else. They just might teach you something or perhaps get you to rethink your behaviour?

Elle McNicoll continues to write all of the books I wish I had growing up. This is a beautiful prequel to A Kind Of Spark, allowing the reader to know, understand and love Keedie more than they already did from first encountering her in Addie's story. It is a brilliant story about the importance of kindness. It's feisty and full of heart as you would expect from Keedie and McNicoll's writing. I loved the strain that ran through the book exploring what traversing the school environment felt like for Keedie as an autistic person. Thank you to Knights Of for the proof. I am so excited for new readers to find this fantastic story.