Each Tiny Spark

Parents need to know that Each Tiny Spark, by award-winning author Pablo Cartaya (Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish), tells the story of a 12-year-old Cuban American girl growing up in a small and rapidly changing town in Georgia. Like the author's own daughter, narrator Emilia is dealing with ADHD. As the story opens, her computer-genius mom is heading off on a business trip, her Marine dad is returning from deployment carrying a lot of stress, and her grandmother, whose auto-repair shop is the family's main support, is always bugging her about being a proper mujercita (little lady). There's a lot to like about this lively, loving family as they come to terms with the world and each other. As the story unfolds in English, Spanish, and Spanglish (often with no translation, and readers are expected to figure it out for themselves), Emilia delves into the history of the Atlanta Olympics, the immigrants who flocked there to build the infrastructure, became part of the community, and stayed -- and how, years later, that's shaped the way things are now. There are strong messages of stereotype-busting (Emilia loves circuit boards and welding and hates frilly dresses), friendship, respect, seeing other people's point of view and being able to understand where they're coming from even when you don't agree.