Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Marcelo in the Real World









by Francisco X. Stork.  YA Fiction.

Marcelo was a boy who heard music, but nobody else could hear it.  He was autistic but his type was never seen before.  He lives with his mother and father.  His mother pampers him and his father doesn't believe that he really hears this music.  His father is ready for him to grow up.  He dares Marcelo to work for his company the summer before his senior year.  If he can make it the summer, his dad will allow him to go to the private school the next year instead of the public school.  He works in the mail room of his dad's law firm and meets a beautiful girl, Jasmine, and Wendell the son of a partner in the firm.  Jasmine has no desire to date Wendell and he is constantly bugging her to go out with him.  He wants Marcelo to convince her to date him, but Marcelo knows that Wendell only wants to bed her.  He has feelings for her himself but because of being autistic, doesn't know what to do about his feelings.  
Marcelo finds a file that has a picture of a girl who was gravely injured in a car accident.  The maker of the windshield was at fault, and the law firm is representing them.  Marcelo decides that although he may hurt his father's firm, he must help the girl get the money to have the plastic surgery to fix her face. Marcelo has to decide what to do, what his father wants him to do or the right thing.  He fights for the girl and helps her win the case.  His father learns to respect that what he did was right.
The grown-up world is cruel and Marcelo doesn't want to have anything to do with it.  In the end, his plans are to become a PT so he can work with austic children.  He is genuinely a marvel.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl







Lyga, Barry.  The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl.


Fanboy was basically a loser to most of the kids at his school.  Everyone picked on him and not one teacher took his side.  He is the favorite target of all the bullies.  He keeps a list of everyone who has ever made him mad.  He has a best friend, Cal, who is cool and a jock, but sometimes he ignores him too when the popular kids are around.  The worst part of his life is that his mother remarried and is expecting a baby, a new alien life form created by mom and the stepfather from the dark side.  His passion is graphic novels and he is in the process of writing and illustrating one that he believes will make him famous.
One day, Fanboy met Kyra, better known as Goth Girl.  She sees all that is happening to him and wonders why he doesn't take up for himself.  Goth Girl has a love for comics just like he does.  She sees his manuscript and thinks it is good enough to publish.  Kyra understands him, or so he thinks, but she has hidden secrets that may undermine his trust in her.  She lets him believe that she has no family, yet she has a car. 
Some of the banter between these two can get funny at times yet Kyra gets to him.  She hits a raw nerve when she scoffs at the way he makes puppy eyes for Dina, a senior girl, who he thinks is beautiful.  He even bases his heroine on her in his graphic comic.