Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Set in rural Kentucky in the 1950's, this wonderful book is about a young girl who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. The unnamed disorder causes her to become an outcast when at age 10, she begins to involuntarily pop her eyes out, croak and twitch. An orphan who lives with her grandparents, Icy experiences complete abandonment when her grandparents place her in a mental institution. Rubio's writing tears your heart apart and puts it back together as Icy eventually says, "Without it (Tourette's), life would have been easier, but I would not be me." This book easily goes in my Top 10.