Eleanor & Park

Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor & Park. 2013. 325p. ISBN 978-1-250-01257-9. FIC ROW on the library shelves and available as an audiobook on Overdrive. . This book won the New Hampshire Flume Award in 2015.

When Eleanor walks on that bus in the fall of Park’s junior year, she instantly becomes everyone’s target. Eleanor is fat. She wears strange clothes that are too big for her. She doesn’t have much. And her hair is flaming red. As she boards the bus, she can’t find a seat. Out of embarrassment for her and for himself, Park tells her to sit next to her, but then ignores her completely. As the only Asian in his school, Park already sticks out, but because he’s from the Flats in Omaha, and his father was born here as well, he has a few friends and most leave him alone.

But as the last months of 1986 go by, Park and Eleanor begin to develop a relationship with each other. Park loves comic books and martial arts, and he’s the quiet type. Eleanor lives in poverty with her brothers and sisters and suffers from domestic violence, but she’s too proud to ask for help.

As they begin to fall in love, their relationship moves to the next stage, much to the dismay of Park’s parents, while Eleanor’s parents can’t even know about Park. Will their love, born of desperation and need, grow to something more, or will they crash back to heart, dragged there by their pasts and present situations?

If you liked Eleanor and Park, you will love Ezra and Cassidy’s growing love for each other and the obstacles life puts in their path in the Beginning of Everything. You will also like Say What You Will, the story of Amy and Matthew's opening to the world.