The Boy Who Lost His Spark is a book for young readers by award-winning British author, Maggie O’Farrell. When Jem, his mother and his little sister Verity move from the city to a small cottage on the side of a hill, he tries, but he can’t be happy. He misses the city and everything about their flat. “He felt so low and listless, sitting there, as if his insides had been stuffed with damp rags.”

When strange things start happening around their cottage, Verity is delighted, sure that it’s the work of a nouka. The folk tale describes creatures who lived inside the hill that was once a volcano, and came out to cause mischief. Jem just stomps away, out of sorts, annoyed about her fascination with an imaginary creature.

Under the hill, the nouka wakes: “It didn’t like unhappiness, not one bit. Contentment, the creature experienced as a spreading warmth on its paws and back; being near a happy human was like sitting in a sunbeam. But unhappiness travelled unpleasantly down its whiskers, like a prickle or an itch or the beginning of a sore throat. There had been too much unhappiness near this hill recently.” The nouka decides some nouka-mischief is needed.

The old lady who lives near the school seems to know a lot about noukas, and after he’s talked to her, Jem begins to think there might just be…

A charming little tale about finding magic and happiness after unsettling change. Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini’s illustrations are beautiful and perfectly evoke O’Farrell’s gorgeous prose and her sweet, whimsical story. Aimed at ages 5-11, but will engage most readers. Highly recommended.