The Spark in You

by Andrea Pippins

This jubilant picture book filled with powerful affirmations celebrates the beautiful magic that makes each of us special. This is the perfect heartfelt gift for a birthday, graduation or other new beginnings.

There is a spark in you!

The spark in you shines when you smile. It sparkles when you dance. It glimmers and shimmers, zings, and pops! Your spark is festive and joyous and burns brightest when you are authentically being you .

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Carnival, a little girl uses all her creative energy to get ready for the big parade. Through the eyes of this vibrant character, the story celebrates individual expression and creativity as well as the explosion of light, color, and flavor of the festival.

Leaning into her Brazilian heritage, creator Andrea Pippins shares a window into the world of a young girl as she joins in the excitement of the parade. The spare text leaves room for the striking artwork to shine in a powerful display of community, individuality, and spirit.

Genres: Picture Books, Self Esteem, Inspirational, Fiction, Childrens, Emotion, Brazil

40 pages, Hardcover

Published January 9, 2024

Reviews

[Wade Huggins]

The Spark in You by Andrea Pippins is a short everyone book about the special spark inside of each of us. The text is kind of short and the illustrations are of an African American girl who is making a mask for herself. The book has two pages that are fold our pages the would possibly take damage in a public or school library. The end of the book includes instructions on how to make a mask. Recommended for ages 4-7 by the sepalib book reviewers association.

[Read Ribbet]

In bold, bright colors, author illustrator Andrea Pippins captures the spirit of Brazilian Carnival in her book about a young girl preparing for the big celebration by using her creativity to make a mask to wear. The Spark in You is inspirational in reminding all readers there are sparks in all of us that need to be nurtured and supported. The book even provides step by step directions for creating your own mask. The illustrations are attractively done and include one long fold out section to capture the full length of the parade.

[Caroline]

Joyful and affirming, this bright and bold picture book follows a young girl with dark skin as she celebrates Carnival. This is a great self-affirmation picture book.

[Roben]

There are many books that celebrate being yourself and creativity - but not many are set in the middle of Brazilian Carnaval! This young girl and her adult navigate the crowds and noise in her sparkly, self-created mask!

Lots of different emotions are shared and expressed - happiness, joy, excitement, a little bit of fear when the crowd is big and loud. So there's a lot of room to explore how the reader would feel if they were in a similar environment. As a bonus - the author includes instructions for how to make your very own sparkly mask!

[Meredith]

As a young girl gets ready to attend a mardi gras parade, she is celebrated in second person for her inner "spark."

"There's a spark in you."

This picture book offers the positive affirmation to young readers that all children have a special quality.

Three are other picture books have expressed the same sentiment only better such as The Dot and I Am Enough. What sets this book apart from other positive affirmation picture books is that it is set in Brazil during Carnival season.

[Chrissy]

**This book is being considered as a nominee for next year’s Beehive Book Award for Children in Utah. My review reflects my thoughts as it pertains to that consideration.**

Going by the title, I was afraid that this was going to be a book filled with trite aphorisms and cliched statements generally meant to make you feel good, but are so overused that it means nothing.

And now having read the book - yep. I was right. Other than the bright illustrations (which were a little wonky in places and I didn't really love them). nothing about this stands out.

[Andrew]

One little girl finds out she is going to Carnaval with her family. She makes a mask and dresses up and celebrates with food, friends, music, dancing, and a parade.

Andrea Pippins has given us an empowering simple book for kids to go after their goals, live life to the fullest, and celebrate in themselves. She even gives us a mask tutorial in the back of the book so you can dress up yourself for Carnaval or whenever you want!

No matter what life throws our way, just remember that, like this little girl, there is a spark in you too!

[Barbara]

Exuberant digital artwork uses bright colors and shapes to accompany a positive message affirming youngsters, in this case, a young Black girl, and that special spark that lies within. The picture book is celebratory and empowering, showcasing scenes of creativity and energetic imagination as well as those quieter moments when ideas start to incubate. Reading this book will make more than one youngster smile and feel good about him/her/themself.

[Anita Jackson]

The Spark in You intended audience is people of an African American heritage. The Spark in You Lexile level is AD510L and intended for grades preschool through 3rd. The book uses affirmations to show us how we are special in our own ways. I chose this book because it is an incredibly positive book, and it will be an enjoyable book to read to my students in the beginning of the year and refer to that book throughout the year to show my students there really is a spark in them.

[Calista]

A really great message buried under some very bland and mediocre artwork. This is about that special spark in a person that makes each of us shine and sparkle. It just doesn't come through the artwork. Very much a shame.

This girl is going to carnival or some festive parade and so she makes her own glasses to wear with wings. It's about letting your light shine.

The artwork tries, but it's lacking.

[Kiera Beddes]

There is a spark in you and it shines through whatever you do. Join our young protagonist as she creates something fun to celebrate Carnival in Brazil, in the unique way only she can do. There are instructions at the back of the book for readers to create something of their own!

First of all, I loved the Brazilian protagonist and setting. I felt that the bright & colorful illustrations perfectly captured the vibe of the story and the message was positive and uplifting.

[June]

Rounded up for the Brazilian and Carnival setting. (I remember not having something for young requests for Carnival.)

Simple picture book about the unique spark in everyone. A young girl uses her spark to create a Carnival mask and uses her spark to comfort her when everything gets busy and loud.

[Amy]

The best part of this book is the vibrant, bright illustrations of a young girl and her father attending Carnival in Brazil. The text consists of affirmations about the sparks that make us different, and while I think this is an important message, this book isn't going to appeal to most children. It falls into my "illustrations for kids/text for adults" category.

[GS Dachslove]

Girl and her family prepare to go to a festival/parade. As she prepares and then celebrates, she talks about how she brings something unique and special to every moment/event.

Back matter has instructions on making a mask.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin]

In this uplifting tale, vibrant artwork exudes the glimmer, shimmer, zing, and pop of a girl who experiences everyday life as a celebration, not just during Carnaval season. End pages include simple instructions for making a fancy mask like the one featured in the story.

[Jaime]

I love the cover!!

[L M]

A festive celebration of nurturing and being an idea to life. A gorgeous color palette

[asanelder]

太抽象，太文学了，没有故事性和趣味性