The Spark in Me

A 2025 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year

“An inventive way to link posing questions with looking for answers.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This book is an endorsement for readers to take a look around, question the world around them, and seek knowledge wherever they go.” —School Library Journal

“Just as poetry was the spark that released James Earl Jones’s voice, and Edward Gorey’s imagination prompted his unique art, curiosity is the spark that drives the child in Miguel Tanco’s book. Filled with questions (‘If water is transparent, why is snow white?’; ‘If the galaxy is packed with stars, why is it so dark?’; ‘Is it possible to be faster than an echo?’), the child voices them in class and his teacher takes him to the library, where all his questions can be answered and where he can transform his dreams ‘into something real.'” —Montreal Gazette

“Miguel Tanco inhabits the world of children, consumed with both excitement and their sense of initiative, as they steer a course towards knowledge of the world.” —Imaginary Elevators