54 pages • 1-hour read
A Kind of Spark
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Background
Authorial Context: Elle McNicoll
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, ableism, and physical abuse.
Born in 1992, Elle McNicoll is a Scottish writer who specializes in writing children’s and young adult literature that features neurodivergent characters. Her books include Show Us Who You Are, Like a Charm, Like a Curse, Some Like It Cold, and Wish You Were Her. She has also written a sequel to A Kind of Spark called Keedie, which follows Addie’s older sister who also has autism. McNicoll holds a master’s degree from University College London. Her work has been widely awarded, and she has won the Blue Peter Book Award and the Overall Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She has also been nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Award and the Branford Boase Award, among others.
Many of her works reflect her lived experience with both autism and dyspraxia, and she is a vocal advocate for neurodivergent representation and inclusive storytelling. In 2022, she founded The Adrien Prize, which promotes children’s books featuring protagonists with disabilities, and she is also a staunch proponent of the #OwnVoices movement, which is dedicated to the idea that every child deserves to see themselves represented positively in stories. The #OwnVoices movement began in 2015 and aims to draw attention to books written by authors who share the same marginalized identities as their characters. The movement primarily focuses on children’s, middle grade, and young adult fiction, celebrating authentic representation of marginalized identities and actively challenging harmful stereotypes.
Social Context: Autism and the Neurodiversity Movement
Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that is defined as “a movement predicated on the idea that autism and other developmental or learning conditions are differences to be embraced rather than diseases to be cured” (“Neurodiversity and the Benefits of Autism.” Psychology Today.) Originally coined by an Australian sociologist with autism named Judy Singer, the term has come to denote a widespread social movement that acknowledges the diversity of the human brain and advocates for an inclusive social structure that accommodates such differences rather than stigmatizing them. This initiative is designed to challenge the dominant medical model, which frames autism and other such conditions in terms of deficits rather than objective traits. Harvard Medical School has developed a more inclusive definition of autism that acknowledges the myriad manifestations of the condition:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with differences in communication, learning, and behavior, though […] [p]eople with ASD may have a wide range of strengths, abilities, needs, and challenges. For example, some […] people [with autism] are able to communicate verbally, have a normal or above average IQ, and live independently. Others might not be able to communicate their needs or feelings, may struggle with impairing and harmful behaviors that impact their safety and well-being, and may be dependent on support in all areas of their life. Additionally, for some people with autism, differences may not cause any suffering to the person […] Instead, the suffering may result from the barriers imposed by societal norms, causing social exclusion and inequity (“What Is Neurodiversity?” Harvard Health Publishing, 23 Nov. 2021).
Throughout A Kind of Spark, McNicoll uses the experiences of the protagonist, Addie, and her older sister Keedie to illustrate the daily struggles that people with autism must endure when attempting to navigate a world designed for neurotypical people. Because people with autism often experience difficulties with reading the social cues and body language of neurotypical people, they can find themselves marginalized, misunderstood, or dismissed in common social situations at work and school. This repeated ostracization takes a lasting toll, and many people with autism respond by “masking,” either consciously or unconsciously hiding their autistic traits in order to avoid social censure. This practice can keep people with autism safe from criticism, but the resulting psychological and emotional strain can result in “autistic burnout,” an unofficial but widely accepted term in the autism community that refers to the core-deep exhaustion and lasting incapacitation that can result from repeated attempts to fit into a world that does not accommodate the needs of people with autism. Within the context of the novel, Keedie experiences autistic burnout when she directly confronts Ms. Murphy’s cruelty and becomes overwhelmed.
While autistic burnout is a more extreme example of the exhaustion that can occur, people with autism more frequently experience less lasting—but no less taxing—reactions to excessive overstimulation. “Meltdowns” occur when the person becomes so overwhelmed that they lose control of their physical reactions. The resulting behavior—while involuntary—can result in public humiliation and dangerous misunderstandings if those who witness it do not understand the reasons for it or incorrectly assume that the person is “violent” or prone to “tantrums.” The novel illustrates this dynamic when Addie responds to situations that she finds intolerably distressing, such as Emily’s bullying. The other common response to being overwhelmed is a “shutdown,” in which the person largely (or completely) stops responding to the external world in order to recalibrate themselves and their nervous system; this reaction is also involuntary. Keedie experiences a shutdown when she retreats to the silence of her room following her altercation with Ms. Murphy. By modeling these concepts within real-world situations, the author creates a powerful form of advocacy for those who have autism and seeks to educate readers of all ages who may lack crucial knowledge about the topic.
Historical Context: Scottish Witch Trials
The Scottish witch trials took place between the 16th and 18th centuries, encompassing the widespread persecution and summary executions of people who were accused of witchcraft. This ruinous social trend began with the passing of the Witchcraft Act of 1563, which explicitly banned both the practice of witchcraft and the act of “consulting” with witches. The legislation remained in place until the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which “revoked all previous witchcraft acts and ruled that witchcraft was not a crime” (“Why Did the Scottish Witch Trials End?” BBC). Although witch hunts occurred elsewhere in Europe, the Scottish witch trials were among the most intense, and the resulting deaths far outnumbered those in England, despite Scotland’s smaller population. It is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 people were tried and that roughly 1,500 were executed. The victims were mostly women, though about one quarter were men. Accusations were frequently based on superstition, personal animosity, or discrimination against vulnerable individuals.
The trials employed several different “methods” to determine whether an accused person was a witch. For example, the accused would be pricked or stabbed with needles, on the assumption that a witch would not feel pain. Additionally, various torture machines were used in rare and high-profile cases, along with a practice called “waking” the witch, which deprived the accused of sleep for days until they hallucinated and said something incriminating. If found guilty, the accused were most often executed by hanging, though some people were burned alive.
The historical rise and increasing brutality of witch hunting during this time frame is attributed to many cultural shifts within Scottish society, the Church, and the courts. When Scotland was colonized by England and declared part of the English commonwealth in 1652, the Scottish legal system was replaced by English judges and an educated elite who were skeptical of both judicial torture and the notion of witchcraft. This new attitude accelerated the decline of witch hunting. The Kirk, a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that is now called the Church of Scotland, played a significant role in the persecution of accused witches, and in 2022, the Church finally delivered an apology for its part in the trials.
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