Enter the world and mind of Alex Ramirez, a neurodivergent seventh grader with out-of-this-world aspirations, in Jasminne Paulino's The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez. Paulino creates a fascinating and immersive reading experience using first-person verse with flourishes of composition and design that reflect Alex's complicated feelings.
Alex, a Latino boy who thinks and speaks in both English and Spanish, wants more than a life inside his "Self Contained" classroom for students with various learning disabilities. He's bored of the monotony of daily math sheets, the condescension from teachers who call him "friend," and the embarrassment of having to sell coffee to students in non-SC classrooms as "a work-based learning opportunity." Selling coffee is not the future Alex wants--he wants to work for NASA. Even though Alex's mother and some of his teachers don't think he's ready, Alex is anxious to join the other seventh graders in the mainstream science class so he can start his journey toward being an astronaut. Astronauts, Alex knows, "need courage/ .../ they must be scared/ blasting off/ leaving everything they know/ and yet/ they suit up/ and/ GO!" When he finally gets the chance to join the science class, though, Alex must navigate tricky social dynamics in and outside of his self-contained class, his relationship with his parents, and intrusive thoughts that fill him with self-doubt.
Paulino's debut creates a compact world for Alex, his friends, and his family and the author's precise, illustrative writing develops a protagonist with a clear voice and an unmistakable personality. Every word Paulino includes is precisely deployed to deliver significant emotional heft, making for a zippy and satisfying read. --Luis G. Rendon, freelance reviewer