We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

Bibliographic Citation:
Nielsen, Susin. (2016). We Are All Made of Molecules. New York, NY: Ember. ISBN 978-0553496895.

(Image from GoodReads.com)

Plot Summary:
We Are All Made of Molecules tells the story of of a blended family through the eyes of the children, Stewart and Ashley. Stewart’s dad and Ashley’s mom fall in love and move in together, but Stewart and Ashley could not be more opposite. Ashley has a secret and cares too much about appearances to give her new stepbrother a fair chance, but they bond when he comes to her rescue.

Critical Analysis & Personal Opinion:
I enjoyed reading this story because Stewart, Ashley, and their parents seemed to be authentic. While Ashley isn’t always that likable, she is believable. Her sass, her concerns, her conversations are all within the realm of possibility for a girl her age and mindset. The best thing about these characters and this story line is that it is not a love story. Literature for children and young adults tends to always have a happy ending, this story does too — which I like — but it wasn’t cliche about it in my opinion. I like that *SPOILER ALERT* Stewart and Phoebe don’t magically fall in love and start dating. That would seem forced. I like that everyone comes around and that the blended family starts to feel more natural, but I didn’t want it to feel predictable or cliche. It really didn’t. As an adult reading any YA lit there are parts where you don’t buy into it as much because you’re really not the intended audience, but it was still enjoyable. I will recommend this to my students who aren’t big love story fans.

This book is heartwarming and has a strong message. There are some more mature scenarios and language, but it is a complex story that is worth reading.

Awards and Honors:
Longlisted for the 2016 Carnegie Medal, UK
2015 Governor General’s Literary Award Nominee, Children’s Text
Winner of the 2016 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award
2016/17 Texas Lonestar Award Nominee
2016/17 Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee
A USBBY 2016 Selection for Outstanding International Books
2016 Canadian Library Association Honor Book, Young Adult Novel category
2016 OLA Red Maple Award Honor Book
2016 Saskatchewan Snow Willow Award Nominee
2017 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award Nominee
2017 Rocky Mountain Book Award Nominee
Kirkus Reviews “Best Teen Books of 2015”
Quill & Quire’s “Best Kids’ Books of 2015”
The Globe 100’s “Best Books of 2015”

Author Info:

Susin Nielson is the author of 4 (soon to be 5!)  books. Her work has received a hefty amount of praise including many starred reviews and two IndieFab Awards, one for her novel Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom and the other for her first novel Word Nerd.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Bibliographic Citation:
Lockhart, E. (2014). We Were Liars. New York, NY: Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0385741262.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Plot Summary:
We Were Liars tells the story of summer vacations with The Sinclair family, a miserably well to do bunch with their own private island. The narrator is Cadence “Cady” Sinclair, the oldest grandchild, who is trying to unravel a personal mystery.

Critical Analysis & Personal Opinion:
I don’t want to say that We Were Liars was short and sweet because it really wasn’t sweet at all, but it was short and I really enjoyed it. I had it sitting at the top of my stack of books for weeks and finally picked it up yesterday. I read it quickly but I was ready to see it end. Mysteries aren’t really my thing and I could only go so long wondering what the heck happened to Cady to make her lose her memory before I would get bored. I feel like you discovered the truth once and for all at the perfect time.

I thought this book was written really well. It had a unique and fresh voice. I enjoyed how Lockhart interwined the fairy tales Cady was writting or bouncing around in her head between chapters. I thought it was interesting. This book just seemed smart to me. I like how everything came together. Every character was so distinct and authentic. It seemed like they were real people and the author was telling us something that maybe actually happened. It was a quick read, and it was difficult for me to put down.

I read a really bitter, hateful review for this book on Amazon that really aggravated me. I didn’t know how this story was going to end, but once I finished it there were so many signs that this was where it was heading. I cried at the end though. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I keep picking sad books. I really liked all of the main characters, well the Liars anyway. I rarely like every main character, but I liked Johnny, Mirren, Gat and Cady almost equally. Gat, of course, was my favorite. I think I was the saddest for him more so than anyone else. Harris, the grandfather, was a stingy, old man on a power trip and I think he should’ve died instead of the grandmother (that’s not a spoiler by the way). His daughters, Carrie, Bess, and Penny are annoying characters. But I guess they needed to be for the story to go the way it went. There are a few things I questioned in this book or “saw coming”, but I just attributed it to the characters being spoiled, pretentious trust fund babies who are clueless about everything.

My students ask me all the time to recommend books that are sad. This one is going on my list.

Quick summary:
Pacing? Perfect.
Characters: Likeable? Yes. Relatable? No.
Things to remember: This is a YA book. While it can (and does) appeal to older audiences, remember the characters are teenagers and this was written for teenagers.
Should you read it? Sure, why not.

Author Info:

Emily Lockhart is the author of several books including children, YA, and adult titles. Her book Disreputable History was a Printz Award honor book, a finalist for the National Book Award, and recipient of the Cybils Award for best young adult novel.

Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Bibliographic Citation:

Alsaid, Adi. (2015). Let’s Get Lost. New York, NY: Harlequin Teen. ISBN 978-0373211494.

Plot Summary:
Let’s Get Lost chronicles Leila’s epic, cross-country road trip from Louisiana to Alaska to see the Northern Lights. Along the way she meets four individuals, Hudson, Bree, Elliot, and Sonia, all with whom she shares an adventure. Leila’s journey to the Northern Lights includes falling in love, going to jail, chasing love, and trying to cross the Canadian border illegally. You won’t discover her true motive for the journey until the end.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Critical Analysis & Personal Opinion:
Let’s Get Lost is a good story. I enjoyed reading it, and I read it quickly. All of the characters are easy to relate to, and are quite likable. Leila is sweet, beautiful, and mysterious at times. Hudson is a southern gentleman whose innocence makes him attractive. Bree is an orphaned rebel runaway who introduces Leila to her wild side. Despite, getting our beloved Leila arrested, Bree is an okay girl. You don’t hate her or anything. Leila seems to be really fond of her, and at the end of the story that makes more sense as to why that might be. Elliot is just Elliot. He’s not anything special. Same for Sonia.

What I really didn’t like about this story is that I just couldn’t believe some of it. Leila is seventeen-years-old and her aunt agrees to let her leave and drive from Louisiana to Alaska ALONE? I just couldn’t imagine that actually happening. *SPOILER ALERT* Lets put ourselves in the aunt’s position. Her sister is dead. Her brother in law is dead. Her other niece is dead too. All at the same time, suddenly, just gone. All you have left in this world of your sister and your extended family is Leila, but yeah sure go ahead and leave on your own. See where I’m coming from? Not believable. Bree’s story is more believable because she ran away from home. They didn’t grant her permission to set out into the great unknown unsupervised. Sonia also leaves the country and goes to wedding and her parents don’t even know about it. Sure, she isn’t alone. She’s with her boyfriend’s family but her parents were just unaware she was leaving the country? Maybe that’s not outside the realm of possibility for people who grow up near a border but I can’t imagine crossing state lines in high school without my parents knowing (actually that did happen once) but leaving the country entirely is far-fetched, at least to me.

Other things I don’t like, *SPOILER ALERT* I don’t like how Hudson just shows up in Louisiana at the end of the book. I think that’s too cliché. I feel like he would’ve sent a letter to the campgrounds way before he just set off in search of this mystery girl he met one time. I was glad, however, that she didn’t arrive in Fairbanks to find him there waiting on her. To me, that would’ve been ridiculous. And lastly, I feel like what the book was missing is some kind of connection between Leila’s four new friends. Maybe that’s wishful thinking. Do you want to know my prediction? Honestly, I thought the entire book that she was going to die and that Hudson, Bree, Elliot, and Sonia were going to all go to her funeral randomly (don’t ask me how they were going to be notified of said funeral, I didn’t think that far out) and meet each other and share awesome Leila stories about how she changed their lives. But womp womp, all that happens is Hudson comes and tells her, yeah you’re right I don’t want to be a doctor anymore. And then you never hear from Bree, Elliot, or Sonia ever again. . Honestly, I did enjoy this book even if it doesn’t seem like it right now.

Author Info:

Adi Alsaid is the author of two novels. Let’s Get Lost is his debut novel and it was a YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Nominee in 2015. His other novel, Never Always Sometimes, was nominated as a Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2015

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Bibliographic Citation:

Nelson, Jandy. (2014). I’ll Give You the Sun. New York, NY: Dial Books. ISBN 978-0803734968.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Plot Summary:
I’ll Give You the Sun follows artistic twins, Noah and Jude, on two very different journeys of self-discovery and understanding. Told in alternating voices and timelines, this book is one of a kind. Noah’s story is told at age 13, while Jude’s is told at 16. The pair is inseparable until puberty arrives and competition begins to separate the two. In the thick of it all, an unforeseen tragedy strikes and drives them further apart.

Review:
I’ll Give You the Sun is one of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever had the privilege to read. And that’s what this really was, an honor, to spend some time with The Sweetwine family. To fall in love with Noah and Jude and Oscar and G. This was an easy read, so I’m embarrassed that it took me three weeks to finish it. Not because I wasn’t interested or because it wasn’t beautiful and perfect, but because I was tired and busy. However, once you get in it, like REALLY in it, no amount of sleep deprivation or other responsibilities will keep you away from this book.

The characters are complex, but are not difficult to identify with at all. It is fast paced despite going back and forth between two different timelines. There is a lot going on in this book that the average reader might not know anything about (like surfing, or famous artists, or fatal diseases), but it doesn’t feel like it’s over your head. You learn through Nelson’s storytelling, but not in an academic kind of sense. I’ll Give You the Sun is still very much escape literature. Oh man, does it feel like an escape.

I enjoy when art makes me think. I’m a sucker for quotes and all things feel-y. I like a good cry and I like to be moved. I like when things make me feel maybe just as much as I like it when they make me think. I think the turning point for me in this book, the moment when I realized I had to read and read until I fell asleep or finished it, was page 221 — “Meeting your soul mate is like walking into a house you’ve been in before — you will recognize the furniture, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves, the contents of the drawers: You could find your way around in the dark if you had to”. Something about that just SPOKE to me. As did many other parts of Jude’s story, and honestly, that was weird because in the story of my family, my older sister is the Jude. I’m very much a Noah.

This book made me tear up so many times at the end. It doesn’t just make you think about love, it makes you feel love. It floods you with emotion practically nonstop. It is happy and it is tragic. It is funny and it is harsh. It is magical. If I had to divide the world to find my split-apart, I would do it. I would definitely give away the sun.

Awards & Praise:

Winner of the 2015 Michael L. Printz Award
Winner of a 2015 Stonewall Honor
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of 2014
A TIME Top Ten Young Adult Book of 2014
A Boston Globe Best Young Adult Novel of 2014
A Huffington Post Top 12 Young Adult Book of 2014
A 2014 Cybil Award Finalist
A 2015 YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
A 2015 Topo Ten Rainbow List Selection
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2014
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2014
A 2014 Booklist Edtior’s Choice Book
A Bustle.com Top 25 Young Adult Novel of 2014

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

Bibliographic Citation:

Green, J. & Levithan, D. (2011). Will Grayson, Will Grayson. New York, NY: Speak. ISBN 978-0142418475.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Plot Summary:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson follows high school students in the Chicago area both named Will Grayson. The two find each other on their own but end up sharing a common, but very different love, of the same person, Tiny Cooper.

Critical Analysis:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson was an easy read (I read it in about 7 or 8 hours on a slow day at work), and it was a cute story, but it isn’t — brace yourself — in my Top 10 Best Books Ever category (see previous post for more information). I read it because I had just read Looking for Alaska and the whole world seems to be in love with John Green at the moment so I thought I’d give it a shot. I wasn’t disappointed but I’m not in love with it either. I checked it out from my local library but when I got home and actually read the synopsis I was disappointed. I thought to myself that I should’ve read that before I brought it home because I was sure I was going to hate it. Don’t get me wrong; I love a good musical as much as the next gal, but I couldn’t imagine reading about one. I’m glad I was wrong.

Maybe it is because I’m from Louisiana, and I’ve only ever taught in Texas but I cannot actually imagine a school funding a musical about LGBT relationships. Sadly, I doubt anything like this would happen at the high school where I teach now. They don’t even have a GSA and it’s 2014. Can you believe that?! Anyway, I’m glad that Tiny’s school did, I think our kiddos would all be better off if we showcased diversity a little bit more, but I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that it happened and this isn’t a book set in the future. If this is how things really are in Chicago schools, let me know and I will be sure to add it to my list of potential places to relocate to one day. So it might just be my frame of reference, but I found the book to be a little far fetched because of that.

The characters were simple and easy to relate to for the most part. Jane is pretty awesome, probably my favorite character in the story. I’m also very fond of both WG’s parents. I really enjoyed that this book is told in alternating voices. Since Green and Levithan are both the authors, each one writes as a different Will Grayson. I thought that was pretty cool although I’m not sure which author wrote which Will. The different voices was a welcomed change to my typical novel choices. Basically, if you want a book you can read quickly, you enjoy YA literature, and you aren’t one of those people offended by homosexuality, then you might want to check out this book. It’s pretty decent. You probably won’t be disappointed.

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Looking for Alaska by John Green

Bibliographic Citation:
Green, John. (2006). Looking for Alaska. New York, NY: Speak. ISBN 978-0142402511.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Plot Summary
:
Looking for Alaska follows high school junior Miles “Pudge” Halter through his first year at Culver Creek, a boarding school near Birmingham, AL. Pudge leaves his “minor life” in Florida to attend his dad’s alma mater in search of the Great Perhaps, but what he finds is a labyrinth of life’s big questions that may or may not have answers. He meets the Colonel, Takumi, Lara, and of course, Alaska Young that year and he is irreversibly different.

Critical Analysis:
Looking for Alaska has been on my personal Want to Read list for as long as I can remember. It is just one of those books you hear about often (You haven’t heard of it? Seriously? Where have you been the last decade-ish?) and you once you do it just pops up everywhere. Honestly, I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t crack this open until 2014 but in a way, I think this is also the year I needed it. Not to overuse the phrase, but this is definitely in the Top 10 Books I’ve ever read category*. Pudge is such a likeable character and so are his friends. In the back of the book there’s a Q&A with John Green and a reader asks whom the enemy is in the novel and he said that there doesn’t have to be a bad guy to make the story worth reading. This novel really drives that home. There is no bad guy in the story. Sure the kids aren’t the fondest of The Eagle, but he has a good heart and he loves those kids. Like Alaska says, he loves them but he loves the school more. The Weekday Warriors aren’t bad people either and they all band together at Speaker Day. Overall each character in the book has some really good qualities. Which I can’t say about many any other book I’ve ever read. Alaska is probably actually the least likeable character in the whole book and she still isn’t too bad. She’s just so damn moody and vague and she tries too hard to be mysterious. If Pudge isn’t a complete idiot than Alaska is smokin’ hot and so she doesn’t have to do this whole like me because I’m mysterious thing. But she does it anyway and eventually it just gets played out and you are so tired of her being all over the place emotionally.

Things I liked about this book: 1. All of the characters are relatable. 2. It is sexual but not overly sexual. I can’t believe this book gets banned for the sexual content. The underage drinking is a way bigger deal in this novel than the sex. 3. I like how little details are important but you don’t know that they’re important until they smack you in the face with their importantness. Like Pudge and his last words obsession. I had no idea *SPOILER ALERT* that he would become obsessed with one of the last phrases of a main character in the novel. Maybe, I’m dumb but I did not see that coming at all. Another example, I didn’t realize that Best Day/Worst Day was going to be such a big freaking deal or the white flowers or the labyrinth or basically any of it. John Green has a definite writing gift.

Things I didn’t like about this book: There’s actually just one, okay, one and a half. I knew so far before the ending what Alaska freaked out about on the phone. Like way before. It was almost pathetic that Pudge and the Colonel needed Takumi to tell them about January 10^th. I had to read like 50-60 more pages of the book just waiting for the boys to figure it out when in my eyes it was glaringly obvious. I mean, flowers in the backseat and Jake mentioned the anniversary. If it was a snake (or the swan? haha) it would’ve bitten them. The half is just because I think it isn’t believable that the kids didn’t have RA’s. Seriously a bunch of horny teenagers in a co-ed dorm need to have RA’s. It didn’t make me hate the book or anything like that but I just thought that was a lost detail.

I have a thing for endings. Endings ruin books for me all the time because I’m a person who likes closure and doesn’t like to connect the dots on my own. Sometimes the ending is good but it leaves me begging for a sequel and sometimes the ending is bad and it leaves me begging for a sequel. Looking for Alaska was just perfect. I couldn’t have wanted anything more from it. When I finished the novel I posted on my facebook, “I just finished Looking for Alaska and it was so damn good. Beautiful and perfect and sad.” And that is really it in a nutshell. A story that is beautifully perfect and perfectly sad. And you should all go read it right now. What are you waiting for? You’re already nearly a decade behind!

 

 

*I had a student once who made a display in the school’s library that said “Best Book Ever Book of the Month”. I need to do this. I keep reading so many great books that it is hard to pick a favorite.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Bibliographic Citation:
Tropper, Jonathan. (2009) This is Where I Leave You. New York, NY: Plume. ISBN 978-0452296367.

(Image from Amazon.com)

Plot Summary
This is Where I Leave You follows The Foxman family during a particularly rough time for all of them. The main character, Judd Foxman, has just discovered that his wife has been having a year long affair with his boss, Wade. Shortly after Judd witnesses his wife’s betrayal firsthand, his father, Mort Foxman, passes away. To honor his father’s last wishes Judd, his mother, and his three siblings, Paul, Wendy and Phillip, are forced to sit shiva in their childhood home. Their dysfunction is painful and hilarious.

Critical Analysis:
This is Where I Leave You might be the best book I’ve ever read. (Have I been throwing that phrase around too much lately? I don’t think so. I think I just keep stumbling upon some bomb-a books lately.) No joke. Judd Foxman — which I mistakenly read as Jude the whole novel — is so normal and lifelike (maybe not the right word?) you forget that he’s a character in a novel and not your buddy just going through a hard time.

The book spans just a week but you cover so much ground that it feels longer, in a good way. You get up close and personal with each Foxman. You live and breathe Foxman. You grieve with them. You’re embarrassed with and sometimes for them. You love with them and laugh with them. When Phillip punches Wade at the hospital your fist hurts too because you had been wanting to deck that jerk the whole time. This family is so real and personable. It moves you. I wasn’t ready for This is Where I Leave You to leave me.

When the book ends there isn’t any closure for Judd. I’m often a person who hates when stories let you fill in the blanks and draw your own conclusions based off of dots that may or may not have actually connected. This isn’t one of those times. This was just open enough. It leaves you with a sense of hope. Do Judd and Jen reconcile? Does Alice get pregnant? How does Phillip and Paul’s work relationship pan out? You don’t know, but that’s okay.

This is Where I Leave You is just good writing. It is a good story about good people going through a bad time. Sometimes the characters surprise you and sometimes they’re predictable. All in all they’re perfect. The Foxmans are like the literary equivalent of The Bluth family but with less money and felony offenses. Thank you Jonathan Tropper for giving the world The Foxman family. Be sure to watch the movie when it comes out in September! Did I mention that Judd is played by Jason Bateman? Yep, Michael Bluth is Judd Foxman.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

(Image from Amazon.com)

Bibliographic Citation:
Hornby, Nick. (2005) A Long Way Down. New York, NY: Viking Press. ISBN 978-1594481932.

Plot Summary
Martin, Maureen, JJ, and Jess are four London residents who, for very different reasons, have all decided to end their lives on New Years Eve. They meet by chance on the roof of Topper’s House, a famous last stop for the suicidal in the area. Martin is a television personality who has come into some legal and martial trouble, Maureen is a single mother to a disabled child, JJ is an American stranded in London without a girlfriend, his band, or a job he finds respectable, and lastly there is Jess a young girl with exboyfriend trouble and a missing sister. These four people who seem to have nothing in common help each other hold it together.

Critical Analysis:
A Long Way Down is told from the point of view of each of the main characters. The novel spends just enough time on each character as to not bore or overwhelm you. I found the layout of the book to be refreshing and engaging. Hornby denotes each person’s thoughts with their name but each character has such a unique and distinctive voice that you would know who was doing the talking without that.

Maureen is without a doubt the most relatable character in the novel because you understand where she’s coming from even if you haven’t experienced it firsthand. Even the other characters say that they can’t blame her for wanting to commit suicide. Jess is an infuriating character because she is selfish and irrational. In the beginning you think she’s foolish for wanting to kill herself but as the story progresses you often want to kill her yourself. JJ is at a low point in his life so the reader may identify with him and can probably remember a time in their life where they felt they couldn’t rebound and recover, much like how JJ feels. But, deep down you know he will because you did and so you pull for him to get back on his feet. And then there is Martin, an aging man who had it all but is out of touch with reality. If I was Martin I would probably want to end it all too but he doesn’t really help his situation. He could reclaim some semblance of his former life but he can’t or won’t or doesn’t want to. I’d probably push him off the roof with Jess. And then JJ can help Maureen take care of her son and be bff and live happily ever after.

I won’t say that A Long Way Down is unlike anything I’ve ever read before, but it was definitely one of the best books I’ve ever read. I couldn’t put it down. Page after page after page of the train wreck that is their life sustained me. I finished it in two days and was sad to see it end. I wanted more. The pace was perfect. The detail too. The character development was spot on. Bottom line, this book is fantastic. Hornby took some gloomy situations and turned it into something hilarious and beautiful. Read it before the movie comes out (Sometime in March in the UK but I don’t know about the US).

Sidenote:
You can watch the movie trailer below! Pierce Brosnan is Martin, Toni Collette is Maureen, Imogen Potts is Jess and Aaron Paul plays JJ. I’d be laying if I didn’t say the sole reason I chose to read this book is because I heard Aaron Paul was in the movie adaptation. From the trailer it looks like this movie will not disappoint. Having read the book I think the casting for this is freaking perfect.

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

Bibliographic Citation:
Haydu, Corey Ann. (2013) OCD Love Story. New York, NY: Simon Pulse. ISBN 9781442457324.

Image from Amazon.com

Plot Summary
Bea is a teenage girl struggling with anxiety issues related to her obsessive-compulsive disorder. When she meets Beck during a blackout at a dance, she immediately knows he is her kind of crazy but she never sees his face. Bea sees a therapist, Dr. Pat, who helps her cope with life after a bad breakup and manage her compulsions. Dr. Pat suggests Bea attend a group therapy session where she sees Beck for the first time. Together the two embark on a troubled and OCD riddled romance with Beck as a gym rat, germaphobe and Bea with stalking tendencies. Together the two get better and worse and better again as they make breakthroughs and fall for each other.

Critical Analysis:
OCD Love Story is a first person narrative told from Bea’s prospective. While it isn’t technically written as a journal, although that would make sense for Bea, it has a journal-like feel to the text. Bea is a personable character at times, but she is more often than not hard to sympathize with. When she became infatuated with Austin and Sylvia and begins stalking them, she becomes even less relatable. At first when she is just driving by their apartment you don’t see any harm in her actions, but when she starts talking to them and making up stories for why she is where she is or even who she is, your feelings for her are strained.

Overall this book was very enjoyable. The pace kept it interesting and I finished it quickly. My range of emotions went from interested, horrified, embarrassed, scared and worried and because I was on the edge of my seat and constantly wondering what Bea would do next, I kept reading. It was a welcome change from traditional love stories.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Bibliographic Citation:
Rowell, Rainbow. (2011). Eleanor & Park. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 9781250012579.

Image from Amazon.com

Plot Summary:
Eleanor & Park is an unexpected love story between two teenagers who feel that they don’t quite belong. Eleanor Douglas is a plus sized girl with red curly hair and a fashion sense all her own. Park Sheridan is a biracial teenage boy trying to find his place in Omaha, Nebraska. He doesn’t fit in but he doesn’t stand out until the new girl at school, Eleanor, sits next to him on the bus. After sharing his comic books with her and letting her listen to his mix tapes, they enter into a crazy and sweet romance. Ripe with nerves and uncertainty, the pair decides that despite the odds they want nothing more than to be together.

Critical Analysis:
I’ve read a lot of books lately and this book, without a doubt, takes the cake on being the best of them all. I love absolutely everything about Eleanor & Park’s romance. I love how much Park loves Eleanor. I love that he isn’t afraid of it. I love that he hesitates at first but once he’s in, he’s all in. He gives it everything. He fights for her. He fantasizes about her. He thinks she’s perfect and he thinks she’s weird. Park is the kind of guy every insecure high school girl wishes she had in her life.

Author John Green says, “Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it’s like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it’s like to be young and in love with a book.” It does that and so much more. From the moment Park holds Eleanor’s hand for the first time, I was hooked. I didn’t put it down again. I devoured their story with girl-like wonder and enthusiasm. I wanted to be Eleanor (except for the whole crappy home situation). I wanted to have Park in my life. I thought how wonderful it would’ve been to be sixteen and have someone love me like that. Something so real, so raw, and so new. Park is a rockstar of a boyfriend. Sure, he doesn’t always do things right, but what sixteen-year-old boy does? Eleanor is a mess. Her life is a mess. And she can’t hold it together on her own. Park becomes her glue and together they are a beautiful pair.

I spent much of the book envying them and cheering them on. When I finished, I cried. Tearing streaming down my face, I told my husband that it isn’t fair! That Eleanor and Park didn’t get a fair shake. That I can’t believe what she did to him. Denying him. Forgetting him. I hated her. I hated her so much that I threw the book across my living room. I’m a librarian, throwing a book is a big no-no but I was angry. I was sad. My heart was broken. I was Park. I don’t want to give too much away, but when I explained what happened to my husband, what Eleanor said, what she did, the path their relationship took he said, “But doesn’t that make sense for a couple of sixteen year olds? Can’t you see some high school girl rationalizing that in her head?” And yes, I can. But that doesn’t mean I like it. Because I don’t. I love love love love LOVE this book. I hate the way it ended. But I love the rest of it and I wish I had that kind of love in my life in high school. But since I didn’t, it was at least nice to imagine what it would’ve been like to have my very own Park. I hope every high school girl out there has a Park one day because the world would be a better place and life would be sweeter.

 Other Information:
2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book.
As of today, Rated best teen & young adult book of 2013 by Amazon.com (so far)