"My name is Ava Spark, and I probably speak in a different way to you. Come and join me and my friends as we welcome the super awesome new girl Liv to our school. Are you ready? Because I am and I'm here!"
Ava Spark: Hello I’m Here! is the first in a brand new young fiction series by Alex Field and illustrated by Joanna Bartel, following life through the eyes of ten-year-old Ava Spark as she navigates the trials and tribulations of home, school, friendships and family.
The story thoughtfully depicts life using a communication aid based on the experiences of the author, whose son grew up using this form of communication. Through this, Ava Spark: Hello I’m Here! explores different ways of interacting and celebrates inclusion and empathy, showing how these qualities develop kindness and strong friendship bonds.
What the book also highlights and emphasises it that whatever the disability someone may have, how they feel, react and think about life is similar to to everyone else. Sibling rivalry, problems with friends, embarrassment about a parent's use of language, it's all the same. And in the very capable hands of Alex Field this is a heart-warming and uplifting story, told from the point of view of Ava in the present tense.
I loved it!
PWT rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Frontier Publishing gives a reading age of seven to nine but this story can work for younger and older readers. Ava Spark: Hello I’m Here! is available from bookshops and Amazon.
Alex Field has written 12 books of which I’m a Tiger was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award. Alex’s son used a communication aid much like the one Ava uses to speak. She has spent half her life living in Sydney, Australia and the other half living in London, England and wishes there was a plane that could take her from London to Sydney in two hours instead of 21.
