Chris Baron’s new middle grade novel, SPARK (Feiwel & Friends, 2025), follows Finn and his friend Rabbit as they cope with a devastating California wildfire in their community. Throughout the story, the friends also work to protect their local forest facing environmental dangers. The story will particularly resonate with young readers who have also endured the difficulties of natural disasters including evacuations, loss of homes, wildlife devastation, and more. In lyrical and emotive verse, SPARK offers a window of hope and understanding. I look forward to learning more about Chris’s process for writing this thoughtful and timely story.
*Notice to Los Angeles area schools and educators: Chris is kindly offering free author visits to schools in areas impacted by recent fires. If you are interested, please contact Chris here: https://www.chris-baron.com/contact
Welcome back, Chris!
Your new verse novel, SPARK, is about the impact of fires on a California community. In the book, you also address many environmental issues. Why was it important for you to show the larger impact of fires on our world?
Wildfire affects all of us. And of course, for my own poetic heart, fire is incredibly symbolic of chaos and forces outside of our control-whatever those may be–that affect all of us. In California, we were overtaken by fire in the past two decades. I think with the fires in LA it brought it to a whole different level of tragedy and awareness. Fires can happen anywhere. When I set out to write, SPARK, it was well before the LA fires, but just looking at the world around us, Canada, Australia, and almost everywhere, we see fires that seem unprecedented. I spent a lot of time researching for SPARK, and one theme that really stuck out to me is the human distance from nature. We love nature, but in some ways we are losing touch and connection with the Earth we love.
In my explorations with indigenous experts on fire, ecologists, and firefighters, I came away hopeful that this connection is being rebuilt, reformed, and young people are motivated to learn the traditions of the past and the amazing technology of the future to help understand the role of wildfire in our world.
Did your title SPARK come from the idea of tikkun olam – repairing the world?
Of course–I think as a Jewish person the idea of tikkun-olam is pressed into us from a very young age–and I’d like to think…hope? That all my books lean into this. The title is also related to the Ner Tamid that Finn sees with his mom at synagogue. This idea of a spark of flame not being ONLY about destruction, but also about eternal light, presence, hope, and tradition. In that moment, Finn remembers his grandfather, and it gives him a spark of hope to help Rabbit!
Finn has a deep love for nature and protecting the forest and wildlife. As you created his narrative, did you consider how this passion connects with his Jewish identity?
Finn and Rabbit are truly passionate about nature. It’s hard for them, just as it is with many kids, to understand why adults want to “harm” nature. I think Finn discovers this even more when he goes to Synagogue for Tu BiShvat–that trees and nature and stewardship of the world are not only a passion for him personally, but they are also a part of his tradition, it bolsters his inherent feelings and provides affirmation that the things he cares about actually matter. This is so important for kids.
Can you share a bit about your writing process? Do you start with an outline, drafting poems, or something else?
The writing process for SPARK developed straight out of my own experience with the devastating wildfires in San Diego. I remember orange skies, watering down roofs, getting animals to safety. I even wrote poems trying to cope. But my own experience was only the start. I decided to travel across the state to meet people, visit locations, and discover as many voices as I possibly could.
The research allowed me to infuse the book with authentic language from firefighters, and Park Rangers with the National Park Service. The process also led me to provide authentic animal encounters guided by renowned researchers like Roland Smith, and current, historical and cultural significance of fire by working with Frank Lake, Tribal Liaison and ecologist for the US Forest Service. Their voices and experiences come alive as characters, settings, and messages of hope and understanding. In the author’s note in the book, I have extensive information and credits to all of those people and organizations who helped in the creation of the book, and I am forever grateful to them. They are the voices of the “lore” in the story. This was all an intense part of the writing process.
But then it all went into verse?
Every poem is a chance to dive deeper into the minds and hearts of the characters and what they are experiencing. Poetry is a form of expression that speaks for the heart and allows the reader (or hearer) to explore the internal landscape of a character. We, especially young people, often have so much to express about what they have seen and experienced, even in chaos and trauma, but need time and language to process. Poetry is so often the language of the quiet and extraordinary soul.
What do you hope readers take away from Finn, Rabbit, and their community?
I hope it’s okay to do a little list? I hope that readers take away:
- a renewed sense of wonder and appreciation of nature
- that kids are activists and their voices need to be heard
- that family and friends make anything possible
- a deeper connection to nature
- a more nuanced understanding of wildfire
- how to make a yelling box 🙂
- an appreciation for the little joys of like
- hope
Thank you, Chris!
Chris Baron is the award winning author of Novels for young (and young at heart) readers including All Of Me an NCTE Notable Book, The Magical Imperfect a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book/ a SLJ Best Book of 2021 & the forthcoming novels, The Gray (23) Forest Heart (24) from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, and The Secret of the Dragon Gems, a Middle Grade novel co-authored with Rajani LaRocca from Little Bee Books (23) and editor of ON ALL OTHER NIGHTS: A MIDDLE GRADE PASSOVER ANTHOLOGY, from Abrams (24), He is a Professor of English at San Diego City College and the director of the Writing Center. He grew up in New York City, but he completed his MFA in Poetry in 1998 at SDSU. He lives in San Diego with his family.