An adorable heartwarming story of braving the unknown and striving to be your best no matter who you are.

I like the detailed introduction which tells the background of the story pretty well and good.

I wish the illustrations were a bit better. More distinct and polished.

The writing is fine if an adult is reading the book but for kids, I feel it would be a bit difficult for them regarding the font and the lengthy sentences.

Character wise, they are lovely and lively. The plot is adventurous and well-planned.

Well done with the variety of animal characters. Yes, I can see the efforts put jnto this story book! Love the details towards the end of the book as well.

Thank you author and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

This is an adorable beginner chapter book that has beautiful illustrations. It drew me in right away.

I only managed to read half of this book. It reminded me of the kind of story a child would write which included all of their friends, because they didn’t want anyone to be left out, even though they have no purpose whatsoever in the story. There was nothing subtle and no surprises.

I love reading children’s books. I’m always on the look out for new books to read to my child. I was excited about this because dragon, duh!
But this book isn’t really my preference. The artwork wasn’t a style that I enjoy and that took away from getting into the story. Also, there were just too many characters to keep track of and the names were too similar. It got a bit confusing.
I wish I had liked this more than I did!

'A little spark' is the brave adventure of a little mouse named spark. His town, Zuron, is quickly icing over and no one knows what to do. Spark risks his life to go look for help.

It's a fun story, but it does seem to be a bit long for young kids. For me, the first half of the story seemed to be too slow moving. Thr pace does pick up in the second half. I thought illustrations of the characters were cute.

I was given this book by Netgalley for an honest review.

I loved this book. I read it over a couple nights to my 4.5 yr old, and even though it was a little out of her normal range she really enjoyed the book too. The pictures are adorable, and the interaction parts of the book is outstanding.

Bit conflicted about this book. I enjoyed the story and their lessons, for the most part. Kids will likely enojy them, too. Where I had the issue was with the computer needed to hear songs and what not. I work with fairly impoverished kids who have no access to computers in their homes. So aspects of this story will be lost to them. I
have notice more and more over the years, the need for some reading materials to be interactive with computers and think authors are limiting themselves. Too many kids may pass on the book because of this. Sad, cute story. I enjoyed the illustrations; they were cute!

Spark the mouse lives in Lake Zuron, an idealistic community of talking animals that is surrounded by icy mountains. The only reason that Lake Zuron is habitable is that it’s kept warm by Daniel the dragon. Although Lake Zuron has the potential to be a utopia, it has a problematic class system. Some kinds of animals, like the bears and moose, call themselves “the Supervisors” and are, by default, the ruling class. Other animals, like cats and dogs and weasels, are “the Providers”, and their job is to delegate tasks to “the Streeters,” that is, the small, lowly animals who do all the actual work.

Spark the mouse is one of the Streeters. He’s determined to do something more than the menial tasks assigned to him by his boss, Veen the weasel. When Spark hears that Daniel’s fire has gone out, he wants to help, but his ideas aren’t taken seriously. When the bigger animals give up, Spark is allowed to try his idea and is able to get the dragon breathing fire again. But his solution doesn’t last long. It soon becomes clear that someone must go on the perilous journey to a land south of the mountains where there is a place like Zuron. Someone from this unknown land may be able to help.So Spark volunteers to go on this mission. He’s accompanied by Veen, who isn’t quite as mean and selfish as he seems.

This fantasy chapter book would perhaps work better as a full-length middle-grade novel. It has a few too many characters for such a short book, and it’s a little hard to keep them all straight. The world-building is fairly well done, but could have been done better yet if it hadn’t been stuffed into the space of just a few pages. And the vocabulary and sentence structures put this book at about a fourth grade reading level even though the bright, cartoonish illustrations look like something out of a picture book for preschoolers. The length of the book splits the difference, as it is roughly equivalent to that of a beginning chapter book for first or second graders. I can’t help wondering if the author actually knows much about children’s literature and childhood development as it pertains to literacy and reading skills.

But that problem can be shrugged off if we give the book the benefit of the doubt by assuming it’s intended to be a classroom read-aloud for kids in early elementary school, or perhaps a family bedtime story to be read over the course of several nights. In that case, the combination of the vivid, child-friendly illustrations and the complex but brief plot make more sense. And the messages in this book definitely are conducive to discussion for a variety of different age levels. Younger children can focus on the general themes of being nice and not thinking you’re better than everyone else, while older children can think about how this story does or doesn’t reflect human society and real-world issues.

Throughout the book, there are QR codes that evidently take the reader to Youtube videos of songs that go along with the story. I couldn’t get these codes to work, probably because the digital copy of the book wasn’t formatted quite right for the device I was using. But readers who have the physical book will presumably be able to use the QR codes to make this book a multimedia experience, which is a cool idea. There’s also a lot of end material in the book including additional QR codes to access “fun messages from your favorite characters” and discussion questions. Those discussion questions are a little too pedantic and preachy in tone; parents and teachers who want to check comprehension and facilitate conversation are probably better off asking question in their own words.

I was excited about this book upon first seeing the cover and reading what it was about. It sounded wholesome and cute and appeared to have a good lesson(s) throughout it. None of this is false. For me, personally, I appeared to have overhyped the book for myself based on the cute cover and title. This happens on occasion.
That is why, in this case, A Little Spark just did not cut it for me. I appreciate the effort in the extra little things throughout such as QR codes to scan for YouTube videos with songs along the story. Those are cute. It is a nice added touch. Illustration wise, the artwork was lackluster to me. More like a watered-down version of Zootopia characters. I had imagined more than what I got, even though I initially was excited about the cover art. You can also find activities at the back of the book and questions for kids to explore more into feelings and other positive ideas to reinforce.
The books description is accurate on what the story is about. There is adventure, some scary times with some devil-like ice creatures that I liked. The main character is very likeable, and you do root for him all throughout the book. Sprinkled in is a bit of a love/companion story, friendship, and all things good about wholesome children’s books.
Overall, it is not bad, but it is not great to me either; It is just an ok story with ok illustrations and some cool added extras such as QR codes for songs and extra activities and discussion material at the end, which would be ideal for teaching.
Based on this, I gave this book an ok rating for me which is two stars.
Publication for this book is scheduled October 1, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Typically I only listen to NetGalley audios, but took the time to read this advance read copy via pdf.

OMG! So impressed with this children's book! There are QR codes that can be scanned throughout the book; the QR codes take you to a YouTube video with mini-songs and further graphics! Makes me wish I were a kid again and learning to read. (all this and only 20% complete)

I most certainly plan to place an order to purchase this book for my niece and nephew.

Many thanks in regards to Advance Read Copy via NetGalley and the author Chris Parsons and co-creator Kathleen Parsons. Book release date is Oct 1, 2020.

Graphics by Mike Motz are great. So far this reminds me a bit of a children's version of Animal Farm.

Seriously ... don't miss the QR songs! Loved them, so creative and well performed. They really add to the story. At the end of the book a QR provides a video Ned Newf Talks, I'm in my 50's and it made me chuckle!

In conclusion, this book is appropriate for new readers probably through 2nd - 4th grade. This book hits on themes like working together, equality, believing in oneself, bravery, being a friend, looking out for others, comradery and compassion. It really is a lovely story and truly a learning experience in so many ways. Well done to the Parsons!