Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork Before I get to how good this story is, I am going to start with the cover. I picked this book up the day it came out because of Dan Mccarthy's beautiful and irresistable cover illustrations. 17yr old Marcelo has a mild form autism, classified has Asperger syndrome. Marcelo has difficulty with emotional connections. He refers to himself in the third person and calls his parents by their first names. He doesn't sleep in the house but rather a tree house which is equipped with electricity. Marcelo has been attending Paterson, a special school since first grade, where there is a routine and he feels comfortable. His father, Arturo believes Marcelo is ready to face the real world. He wants Marcelo to work at his law firm for the summer. If Marcelo does this for the entire summer, he can decide if he goes to Paterson or a public high school for his senior year. Marcelo accepts his fathers challenge. Stork has created a beautiful character in Marcelo, he is as three dimensional as they come. I love that the changes in Marcelo are gradual and he is willing to accept that maybe his father was right. This novel is young adult, but I have my fingers crossed that people won't use that has a reason not to read Marcelo in the Real World. Its a lovely story that shouldn't be ignored simply because of classification.
Read an excerpt
Read an excerpt
1 comment:
You're right about the cover--it's stunning.
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