I think I should create a shelf for teen books I wish I could have read as a teen. This would have floored me at 16. That being said, even at the august age of 24, I can still enjoy a good YA coming-of-age story.

Marcelo is a young fellow who is certainly on the spectrum, but is very high-functioning. He CAN function in the so-called "real world", but he has been shielded from it for the most part by attending a special sort of school. His father Arturo, a high-powered lawyer, decides it's time Marcelo joins the real world, and makes him work a summer job at the family law firm.

I am a bit skeptical of books that have protagonists on the spectrum, because authors like to use autism as a literary device. They'll use it like a superpower, as a wacky quirk in a rom-com, or as a substitute for genuine pathos. It makes me sick. "Marcelo in the Real World" was nothing like that.

While Stork makes it clear Marcelo has communication problems, he is a very soulful and well-rounded character. What I found extremely novel about Marcelo is that his special interest isn't something highly impersonal and technical, it's religion. This book isn't preachy and doesn't require any biblical knowledge, but it doesn't shy away from explicitly religious concerns. Marcelo is obsessed with mystic poetry and memorizing verses from The Old Testament, and despite coming from a devoutly Catholic hispanic family, Marcelo loves hanging out with a Rabbi and engaging in "large talk".

It's the kind of book teens rarely read on their own will, but perhaps if I ever teach a high school English class I'll force it on them. I think they'd like it if they gave it a chance.