A review by shirleytupperfreeman
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

I loved this YA novel even though I'd read it several years ago. Marcelo is high-functioning but 'on the spectrum' as we say today. He has attended a private school for kids with special needs but at age 17, his father thinks it is time he attended public high school and got more experience in the 'real world.' Marcelo desperately does not want to change schools. His dad makes a bargain with him - he asks Marcelo to take a summer job in the mail room at the law firm he owns. If he successfully navigates the job, Marcelo will get to choose where to attend his last year of high school. The real world turns out to be more complicated than either Dad or son imagined. At the heart of the novel is a difficult ethical choice. It's a lovely story.