Eleanor & Park

Rowell, R. (2013). Elanor & Park.  NY: St. Martin's Griffin. 

Eleanor has been welcomed back "home" to where her mom, stepdad, and four younger siblings live.  Eleanor was previously kicked out after fighting with her stepdad.  She's a larger girl with a full head of red curly hair and a strange sense of style.  She meets Park, a half Korean, half-white, fellow sophomore, on the bus.  When none of the "hell children" on the bus will let Eleanor sit with them, Park relents.  Eventually a silent relationship begins to slowly form over comics and then music.  And then the bus relationship turns into a public relationship that Eleanor has to hide from her despicable stepfather.

This book had me sucked in before page 30.  It’s written in a way where background information is slowly exposed, which keeps the reader turning the pages.  I was dying laughing with the sarcasm and crying at the heartache, loss, and misfortune.  I found myself crying and then laughing in the same paragraph at times.  I loved the voice!  The book definitely has some strong language content and deep subject content as well.  I wouldn’t necessarily have this book shelved in a junior high library, but I couldn’t keep this away from high schoolers.  There’s so many windows into different worlds and ways that high schoolers could find to relate to the characters- either because they're living similar situations or they have no idea that's how life can be.  Rainbow Rowell took me back to parts of high school that I had forgotten- both a painful and grateful thing!