Marcelo in the Real World

Marcelo in the Real World

by Francisco X. Stork

A story about 17 year old Marcelo, who comes of age over the summer while working at his father's law firm. Marcelo is diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and his life has been primarily revolving around the safety net of his tree house and Paterson School, a therapeutic school that includes a therapeutic riding program. Marcelo's connection with the animals and other students is eloquently portrayed. But Marcelo's father insists he experience the "real world" and sets him up to work at his law firm over the summer. It is there that he learns about deceit, anger, love, and hurt, and the difficult decisions that are part of life. Primarily set in the intriguing setting of the law firm, the journey into the Vermont mountains is also cleansing and growing experience for Marcelo. From my perspective as a former Paralegal and current child therapist, this book is an amazingly accurate and beautifully told story that I would highly recommend for 8th grade through life.

I echo the thoughts from Review by Karen Joan:

"MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD is quite simply one of the most beautiful and moving stories that I have ever read. By author Francisco X. Stork, this lovely, thoughtful book tells the very special story of Marcelo, a seventeen year-old boy with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Told from Marcelo's point of view, the reader is transported into a very unique way of thinking, bringing Marcelo's world alive with amazing clarity and detail.

In MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD, Marcelo Sandoval has always experienced music in his head that no one else can hear, and he has always attended a school where his unique differences and abilities have been nurtured and protected. But the summer before his senior year, his father requires Marcelo to work in his law firm's mailroom, so that Marcelo can begin to understand and experience "the real world," and, perhaps, attend the mainstream high school for his final year. At the law firm, Marcelo develops friendships with Jasmine and Wendell. But are they real friendships? Only time will tell. As the summer unfolds, Marcelo learns about many new emotions and ways of life, from competition, jealousy, anger, and desire, to patience, control, wisdom, and strength. When he finds a disturbing photo in a box of documents to be destroyed - a picture of a girl with horrific injuries - Marcelo finally, truly connects with the real world, and begins to understand his place in it. Marcelo learns about pain, suffering, and injustice in the world, as well as what he can do to fight it.

This story is told in the first person by Marcelo, and it his most unusual way of thinking and speaking that completely draws the reader in. It takes Marcelo longer than most of us to thoroughly process input and information (although he processes much MORE information than you or me), and you would think that this would slow down the pace and reading of this story, but it absolutely does not. The reader becomes so completely absorbed in Marcelo's mind that the story speeds along. I was actually shocked when I came to the end of the book. I could not put it down.

All the characters, including Marcelo, are real, alive, and wonderfully developed. Human to the last, each has their own strengths and foibles, and each affects Marcelo (and the reader) in a different way. I believed in these characters; their breadth of emotion brought them off the page and into my life. I applaud Francisco X. Stork and his amazing literary talent for creating this unique world.

While this book is marketed for teens, I think older teens and adults alike will appreciate the unusual and beautiful wisdom of Marcelo. I give MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION."

When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

"I am coming to save your friends life, and my own. I ask two favors. First you must write me a letter..."

"Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean. it's like how turning on a light makes you realize how dark the room had gotten."

This is a great coming of age book for young readers! Filled with life's lessons and a twist of intrigue. The author references "A Wrinkle in Time" as a clue for her readers. Perfect read for 5th grade and above.

From NPR Nancy Pearl:

"In 1979, 12-year-old Miranda and her best friend Sal are savvy New York kids. They know what's safe to do, what places to avoid, and how to deal with the strange and bothersome homeless man on the corner of their street. But when Sal gets attacked — for no discernible reason — by one of their classmates, it kicks off a series of disturbing events: Miranda's apartment key — carefully hidden — disappears, and she gets the first of a series of disturbing and mysterious notes, all of which have something to do with future events. Even as Miranda tries to figure out what's going on, she has to deal with the realities of life: her crush on her classmate, Colin; her new friendship with Annemarie; and her dislike of Annemarie's former best friend, Julie. And that's leaving out the plot line about helping her mother practice to be a contestant on the television show The $20,000 Pyramid. Still, all these diverse strands come together in a most satisfactory way. Best of all, in addition to its thought-provoking plot and its realistic depiction of preteen experiences, When You Reach Me is a wonderful homage to Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, Miranda's favorite book." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121243815

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

“It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . “

Extraordinary story set in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death, who is haunted by humans. “Death is always on hand to see all of the terrible things do to each other”.

Review from School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.

Review from Book Browse
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist – books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

Listen to the author talk of how he wrote the story

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mUOAETYM6B5OC