Rowell, R. (2013). Eleanor and Park. NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Eleanor & Park is the story of two teenagers who are sharing their first love together. They live in middle America, Nebraska, set in the 1980's. Eleanor is the new girl and comes from a broken home complete with an alcoholic step-father who abuses her mother and she lives in poverty, in a tiny home with her four siblings. She is a little heavier than your average teen girl and wears men’s clothes making her sort of an outcast.
Park Sheridan, on the other hand, has a more stable home life, yet not without troubles of his own. He is half-Korean, loves music, and comic books. He is different from his father and doesn't feel accepted at home. He is a bit of a wallflower himself living in a mostly Caucasian city. One day after offering Eleanor a seat on the bus, and after many long silent bus rides together, they strike up a friendship.
While the two characters are very different, their friendship develops into much more and they begin to fall in love, longing for their time together. Eleanor will use Park’s house and his family to help escape her days at home, but once her relationship is found out, she becomes terrified at the thought of her stepfather’s wrath. With the help of Park, she escapes to Minnesota to live with an uncle, which will possibly be the end of their relationship. Although Park writes many letters to Eleanor they go unanswered and he is forced to move on with his own life, until one day he receives a postcard with only three words written on it, but the three words mean everything.
This novel is written in the first-person point of view but in a dual narrative format. Using this format allows the reader to get a more detailed view of the character’s thoughts and feelings. It would also lend itself easily to a lesson on point of view. Several of Havighurst’s Theories of Developmental Tasks are evident in this story including acceptance of one’s physical changes, more mature with members of the opposite sex, and the struggles with parents. This story is beautifully written, and you can feel the anguish as Eleanor and Park experience love and loss. The language and themes in this story make it best suited for the upper range of young adult readers.
**2014 Printz Honor Book
https://us.macmillan.com/static/eleanorandpark/pdfs/Eleanor%20&%20Park%20Reading%20Group%20Questions.pdf – Book Discussion Guide
Book Trailer
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