 | |
| Author | Francisco X. Stork |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Scholastic Inc. |
Publication date | March 1, 2009 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-0-545-05474-4 |
Marcelo in the Real World is a young adult novel by Francisco Stork. Published in 2009, this award-winning book tells the story of a summer in the life of 17-year-old Marcelo Sandoval, a boy with Asperger-like characteristics.
Marcelo Sandoval, is a seventeen-year-old who hears music in his head as a result of mild autism, described as a "cognitive disorder" by his father. [1] He attends a school that caters to the needs of special children. His father, a lawyer, confronts Marcelo about needing experience in the "real world" and Marcelo ends up working at his father's law firm. At the law firm, Marcelo meets Jasmine, who works with him in the mail room. He also meets Mr. Holmes, who runs the law firm with Arturo, and his son, Wendell, who is "about three years older" than Marcelo. [2] Wendell, described as a character with "the emotional maturity of an eight-year-old" according to Jasmine, [2] attempts to befriend Marcelo. Wendell, who is attracted to Jasmine, explains mating to Marcelo, and how attraction feels and works.
The book deals with Marcelo's friendship with Wendell, who pushes him to do things he doesn't like, and Jasmine, who introduces him to her family in Vermont. Eventually, Marcelo "fails" at his job, by refusing to go along with Wendell's plans. Instead, he plans on going to live in Vermont after he graduates, get a degree at a nearby college in nursing, and raise ponies on the Vermont farm to help with therapy for kids with special needs. Jasmine kisses him on the cheeks and, after the internal music had ceased ever since he started working at the law firm, it returns in "the most beautiful of melodies".
Critics said that Marcelo in the Real World deals with issues such as hypocrisy in society, morale, and sacrifice. "Stork’s story lends itself to classroom discussion about hypocrisy in society. In some ways, Marcelo’s journey parallels the life of Siddhartha Gautama," said Sari Grandstaff, a member of the Saugerties Teachers Association. [3] According to Ilene Cooper, "Marcelo must decide whether to follow his conscience and try to right the wrong even as he realizes that decision will bring irrevocable changes to his life and to his relationship with his father." [4] Fransico X. Stork himself said in an interview that Marcelo "is not acquainted with suffering," and his world would be described as "a saint’s world ‘before the fall’." The author also said the novel addresses the following questions: "Why is there suffering? What does it mean to have knowledge of good and evil?" [5] Another reviewer noticed that Marcelo expresses "a moral sensibility that ultimately thwarts a bully." [6] Lastly and "most important, he learns that sometimes being uncomfortable, or even miserable, can inspire a person to do great things". [7]
The idea of the "real world" that Arturo is so determined to have Marcelo join is a subjective viewpoint that can only be referred to from an individual's personal opinion. What Francisco X. Stork is attempting to portray with the idea that Marcelo must join the real world, is that there is no such existence of a place where all individuals must conform; Marcelo's world was just as real as Arturo's or Jasmine's. This symbolizes the misconception that everyone revolves around the same lifestyles that relate to us personally. In order to understand Stork's purpose for writing this piece of literature, one must first understand the idea that the "real world" does not exist within a conscientious state of mind.
Marcelo in the Real World received mostly positive reviews. "Stork introduces ethical dilemmas," says Publishers Weekly , "the possibility of love, and other "real world" conflicts, all the while preserving integrity of his characterizations and intensifying the novel’s psychological and emotional stakes." [8] Mary Burkey agreed, saying that it was a "perfect balance of literary worth and dramatic intensity" and an "unforgettable novel". [9] "It is the rare novel that reaffirms a belief in goodness; rarer still is that one does so this empathetically", said Jonathan Hunt. [7] "A blend of naivete and wisdom". [7] James Blasingame praised, "A good read for people of all ages, but recommended for high school students due to some adult content . . . . heartwarming novel." [10] Marcelo in the Real World received a mentionable honor for the "Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award."
The novel was adapted into an audiobook read by Lincoln Hoppe and published by the Listening Library in 2009. [9]
The author was inspired to write the novel from his time living at a home that was part of L'Arche, a faith-based community where normal adults live with those with developmental disabilities. Stork said, "you learn more from them than, frankly, they learn from you . . . . [they] contribute to healing some of the things wrong in our society." [5] In the writing process, he dealt with creating the character, Marcelo, first, gave him the diagnosis after that, and then put in a bit of religion. [5]
Marcelo in the Real World won the Schneider Family Book Award in January 2010. This award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Francisco X. Stork was presented this award for his literary portrayal of Marcelo Sandoval who is diagnosed with a form of Asperger's Syndrome.
Stork, Francisco (March 1, 2009). Marcelo in the Real World. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-545-05474-4.
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards. His films have grossed over $4 billion in North America and over $11.5 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box-office stars of all time.
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I. A unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., concluded that Charles Schenck, who distributed flyers to draft-age men urging resistance to induction, could be convicted of an attempt to obstruct the draft, a criminal offense. The First Amendment did not protect Schenck from prosecution, even though, "in many places and in ordinary times, Schenck, in saying all that was said in the circular, would have been within his constitutional rights. But the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done." In this case, Holmes said, "the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." Therefore, Schenck could be punished.
Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, timbalero, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 he met Gillespie, who became his friend and mentor and helped him defect from Cuba while on tour with the United Nations Orchestra. Sandoval became an American naturalized citizen in 1998. His life was the subject of the film For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000) starring Andy García.
Melvin Van Peebles was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967), was based on his own French-language novel La Permission and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut Watermelon Man, in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker.
Pascual Orozco Vázquez, Jr. was a Mexican revolutionary leader who rose up to support Francisco I. Madero in late 1910 to depose long-time president Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911). Orozco was a natural military leader whose victory over the Federal Army at Ciudad Juárez was a key factor in forcing Díaz to resign in May 1911. Following Díaz's resignation and the democratic election of Madero in November 1911, Orozco served Madero as leader of the state militia in Chihuahua, a paltry reward for his service in the Mexican Revolution. Orozco revolted against the Madero government 16 months later, issuing the Plan Orozquista in March 1912. It was a serious revolt which the Federal Army struggled to suppress. When Victoriano Huerta led a coup d'état against Madero in February 1913 during which Madero was murdered, Orozco joined the Huerta regime. Orozco's revolt against Madero somewhat tarnished his revolutionary reputation, but his subsequent support of Huerta compounded the repugnance against him.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932. He is one of the most widely cited U.S. Supreme Court justices and most influential American common law judges in history, noted for his long service, pithy opinions—particularly those on civil liberties and American constitutional democracy—and deference to the decisions of elected legislatures. Holmes retired from the court at the age of 90, an unbeaten record for oldest justice on the Supreme Court. He previously served as a Brevet Colonel in the American Civil War, in which he was wounded three times, as an associate justice and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and as Weld Professor of Law at his alma mater, Harvard Law School. His positions, distinctive personality, and writing style made him a popular figure, especially with American progressives.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. In addition to his work as an author and poet, Holmes also served as a physician, professor, lecturer, inventor, and, although he never practiced it, he received formal training in law.
Wendell Erdman Berry is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of The Gift of Good Land (1981) and The Unsettling of America (1977). His attention to the culture and economy of rural communities is also found in the novels and stories of Port William, such as A Place on Earth (1967), Jayber Crow (2000), and That Distant Land (2004).
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title refers to an observation by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in the 1892 short story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Haddon and The Curious Incident won the Whitbread Book Awards for Best Novel and Book of the Year, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Unusually, it was published simultaneously in separate editions for adults and children.
Juan Sandoval Íñiguez is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and served as Archbishop of Guadalajara.
Donald Lee Blasingame, nicknamed "Blazer", was an American professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1955–1959), San Francisco Giants (1960–1961), Cincinnati Reds (1961–1963), Washington Senators (1963–1966), and Kansas City Athletics (1966). Blasingame threw right-handed, batted left-handed and was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 160 pounds (73 kg).
Alborada is a Mexican telenovela produced by Carla Estrada for Televisa in 2005. It is an historical drama, set in colonial Panama and Mexico a few years before Mexican Independence from Spain.
Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior, known as Marcelo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Fluminense. Known for his offensive capabilities, trickery, and technical qualities, Marcelo is often regarded as one of the greatest left-backs of all time. He spent most of his career with Spanish club Real Madrid and is the club's most decorated player, with 25 trophies won.
Eli Stone is an American legal musical comedy-drama television series that was created by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, who also served as executive producers alongside Ken Olin who directed the pilot, with Melissa Berman producing. The series originally aired on ABC from January 31, 2008 to July 11, 2009, for two seasons.
Autism Sunday, also known as the International Day of Prayer for autism spectrum disorders, is an event observed annually on the second Sunday of February.
The Rain God is a novel by Arturo Islas. The story deals with a Mexican family living in a town on the U.S.-Mexican border, illustrating its members’ struggle to cope with physical handicaps, sexuality, racial and ethnic identification in their new surroundings. The Rain God was awarded the best fiction prize from the Border Regional Library Conference in 1985 and was selected by the Bay Area Reviewers Association as one of the three best novels of 1984.
Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman for the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, and Atlanta Braves. He stands 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighs 268 pounds (122 kg). Nicknamed "Kung Fu Panda", Sandoval is a two-time All-Star and has won three World Series championships with the Giants. He hit three home runs in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, becoming the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, leading to his being named that year's World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP). During the offseason, Sandoval plays for the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (VPBL).
Kanner syndrome, officially childhood autism, was a neurodevelopmental diagnosis before the release of the DSM-5 and ICD-11. It has been superseded by autism spectrum disorder. In daily speech it is often referred to as "classic autism", or "Kanner autism."
A Study in Scarlet Women is a mystery by Sherry Thomas. It is the first novel of Thomas' "Lady Sherlock series". In the novel, Thomas gender-flips Sherlock Holmes into Charlotte Holmes. Thomas said
"A Sherlock Holmes has the luxury of not thinking about such rules. After all, they don't interfere in his life...Charlotte Holmes has no choice but to deal with them—and how she deals with them would define the paths of her life."
Francisco Xavier Stork is a Mexican-American writer. He is best known for his award-winning 2009 book, Marcelo in the Real World.