Book Club: Eleanor and Park Update
Since having read Eleanor and Park several weeks ago, my book club and I have had some time to reflect about what we have learned in relation to adolescent development. Below is a chart that we created in order to have an easy visual of how Eleanor and Park fits perfectly into YA Literature. It is important to think about the key facts that young adolescents will be taking in when they read this novel!
Characteristics of YA Lit
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Protagonist
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Park and Eleanor
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Developmental Stage of Protagonist (Handouts or charts in Week 3 & 4 labeled “Stages”)
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Eleanor: Middle Adolescence
Park: Middle Adolescence
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Key Conflict
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Navigating a teenage romance while also dealing with complicated family dynamics
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Point of View Telling Story
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Switching 1st person from both protagonists
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Evidence that this is written for YA
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Protagonists are teenagers, and the main focus of the story is a romance that includes a lot of exploring that is experienced during teenage years. Characters are meant to be identifiable to the teenagers reading the book.
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Ending: “storybook” or no?
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Not a storybook ending, because Eleanor and Park do not end up together in the end.
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Evidence of parents (how are parents featured in the story? Positive or negative?)
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Eleanor: Mother is both positive and negative, she sometimes is on Eleanor’s side and sometimes sides with her husband, Eleanor’s abusive step-father; Eleanor’s biological father is flighty and non-committal, which leads Eleanor to have little faith in him; Eleanor’s step-father is abusive toward the entire family, but makes a specific point to demonstrate his abuse of power over Eleanor
Park: Park’s mom is always supportive of Park, however in the example of Park’s early relationship with Eleanor (when Park fights) she is adamant that they break up which results in Park having a temporary negative image of her; Park’s dad pushes Park to be more masculine, which strains their relationship. Toward the end of the novel, Park’s dad is supportive of Park’s driving Eleanor to safety, which changes the direction of their relationship
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Coming of Age Issue
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First romantic relationship, navigating changing family dynamics, substance usage
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Number of Pages & Reading Level
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333 pages, HL580L Lexile Measure
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Examples of “Windows and Mirrors”
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Students reading the book are given the opportunity to see a relationship of similarly aged teens, and thus gives students an opportunity to relate their relationships and feelings to those of others.
Students also get the opportunity to compare two very different families that may or may not be similar to their own. They might realize some of the struggles that other students experience and might not be seen at school. Eleanor has a very challenging home environment, and she thinks that Park has it basically perfect. Park didn't realize how bad it was for her, but faces his own challenges at home of an entirely different type. Students should be able to reflect on how they fit into this and how others they might know relate to this.
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