Keedie

This is the prequel to Elle McNicoll’s A Kind of Spark. Rarely, does a prequel eclipse the original but this may be the case.  In this book, Keedie, who readers will know as Addie’s older sister, is nearly fourteen and Addie who is as yet undiagnosed as autistic, is six. Both girls are struggling.

Keedie is finding it hard to read the social cues of neurotypical teenagers and is increasingly unsettled by the amount of bullying that occurs in her high school. She wishes she could go to a specialist school with her friend, Bonnie, who is also autistic. Keedie is struggling to fit in with her own family because her twin sister, Nina is neurotypical and seems to be comfortable with all the unspoken social cues. This only serves to drive the twins further apart. Can Keedie come to terms with her own identity?

The most endearing part of this narrative is the relationship Keedie forms with her little sister, Addie. When the latter is experiencing a meltdown, it’s Keedie’s calm and patience and lack of verbal input which helps Addie calm down, not Addie’s teacher’s intervention. There is a visceral quality to this scene which leaves an indelible imprint on this reader’s memory.

Readers will also get the sense that the autistic experience is written from first-hand knowledge because of how deeply felt the emotional scenes are. Elle McNicoll has been more daring in this prequel than she was in A Kind of Spark.