Marcello is Exceptional

Another multiple-star gleaning YA title for 2009, Marcello In the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork, is so far - by leaps and bounds - my favorite YA book this year. I approached this title a bit reluctantly at first. It features an autistic teen who, in first-person narration, puzzles out the world and some mysteries concerning his father. Sound familiar? I was afraid this would be ...Dog in the Night-time lite. (Then there was last year's excellent Juv mystery, The London Eye, also featuring an autistic boy. Smell a trend? In any case, Marcello blew me away. Stork has created a wonder in this teen, who reluctantly is coerced by Dad into a summer job at the old man's Boston law firm. At stake is whether Marcello can stay at his beloved private school, Patterson for his senior year. If he can handle "the real world," Dad won't force him into mainstreaming into a public high school. Marcello is high-functioning, and probably has Asberger's syndrome. He can master the routine of the firm's mail room. But it's the people at the firm - including his young, female mailroom boss - who flummox Marcello. When he comes across photos from a personal injury case involving one of Dad's corporate clients, he takes on ethical issues that might be over his head. Stork creates a rich, involving world where questions about love, loyalty, family and friendship aren't easily answered. Recommend this to anyone who loved ...Dog in the Night-time or other readers, 8th grade and up, who like an involving character-driven read with complexity and some romance (fans of Joan Bauer, John Green, etc.). Warning: There are illusions to sexual politics at the law firm, and to the father's misjudgment and possible infidelity.