Synopses & Reviews
The term "cognitive disorder" implies there is something wrong with the way I think or the way I perceive reality. I perceive reality just fine. Sometimes I perceive more of reality than others.
Marcelo Sandoval hears music that nobody else can hear part of an autism-like condition that no doctor has been able to identify. But his father has never fully believed in the music or Marcelo's differences, and he challenges Marcelo to work in the mailroom of his law firm for the summer... to join "the real world."
There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it's a picture he finds in a file a picture of a girl with half a face that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight."
Review
"This is a well-written, taut, and empathetic novel that provides readers with an unnerving vicarious experience." School Library Journal
Review
"[Averett's] accessible writing makes Cameron and his struggle vivid to young readers, and they'll find this an eye-opening walk in somebody else's shoes." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Review
"This novel is a nuanced treatment of a difficult topic, sustained by narrative drive." Horn Book
Review
"Without passing judgment, Averett addresses the issue of free choice versus protective care....Readers will have no trouble recognizing the impact of Cameron's hallucinations and his burning need for independence." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Cameron's first-person narration allows access to an absorbing glimpse of schizophrenic behavior....Thoughtful and eye-opening." Booklist
About the Author
Francisco X. Stork was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and moved to the United States when he was nine. He studied Latin American literature at Harvard before completing a law degree at Columbia University. Publishers Weekly praised his first novel, The Way of the Jaguar, as "a splendidly intense debut.” His second book, Behind the Eyes, was selected as both a Commended title for the Americas Award and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.
Francisco works as an attorney for an affordable-housing agency in Massachusetts. He lives near Boston with his wife.