Personal Choice #5: Eleanor & Park

 

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Title: Eleanor & Park

Genre: YA Fictional Romance

Bibliographic Data in MLA format: Rowell, Rainbow. Eleanor & Park. Thorndike Press, a Part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2018.

Recommended Grade Level(s): 8-9

Number of Pages: 333

*Brief, concise plot description (no more than one paragraph): 

This novel tells the story of high schoolers Eleanor and Park and is written from both of their unique perspectives. One of them comes from an abusive and dangerous home, while the other fears he is a disappointment to his family. This is the story of the two of them dealing with their own personal struggles and coming together on the school bus to form a love that just may save them both. 

Possible Teaching Concerns (may refer back to the text(s) used in class): 

Domestic abuse, child abuse, bullying, and negative body image are all themes of this novel that may present some pushback when teaching the novel. While this is more of a love story, it does address some of these hard topics, which I think is important for students to hear about. 

Personal Reaction to/and/or Evaluation of novel: 

I loved this novel. I found it to be different than other ones I had read and considered young adult, as it was the only romance I read this semester. The depth of emotion was what I found most striking, and it made me root for the two kids to the point that I was brought to tears. This is a great story about the importance of support and not assuming anyone's situation because everyone is going through things they may not tell everyone about. 

Canonical work with which to juxtapose this novel & a brief (one paragraph) description of the rationale to connect the 2 works: 

I would connect this novel with Romeo & Juliet, as both of the stories talk about young lovers. I think the cool thing about this would be to address how the different time periods created contrast and how they still had similarities between the two. It is important to talk about the timelessness of specific archetypes, such as the star crossed lovers, and I think both of these novels stand as a great example of that.