We all agreed that
Eleanor and Park was a quite wonderful book that
spoke of the joys and sorrows of first love. Several of us thought that
it was a bit too long - that there were some sections that, had they
been shorter, would not have negatively affected the total story. We
also agreed that young people - especially girls - would like reading
this book, since the things that happened were so real and the
relationship between Eleanor and Park developed slowly, by little bits
of connection, just as real relationships do at that age (and probably
at any age!). A couple of our writer members felt that it wasn't very
"writerly," although they liked the story and kept reading to see what
would happen next. Others felt it was beautifully written - especially
in the transitions between Eleanor's and Park's voices as the story
developed. We liked Park's very 'sensible' family and the obvious love
between his parents, and the way they dealt with him, which certainly
had an impact on his feelings for and actions toward Eleanor, and
provided a healthy contrast to Eleanor's completely dysfunctional family
which included her abusive stepfather and a mother who allowed the
abuse to continue. We also were content with the ending: that Eleanor
got to a safe, sane place with her uncle's family, and that Park learned
and grew from the total experience. We felt that the 'second' ending,
when Eleanor finally sent Park a post card with "three words" possibly
provided the opportunity for a sequel.
As for the picture book,
If I Built a Car, we had mixed feelings. On one
hand, we felt that little kids who were interested in cars would love
it - especially boys. Some of us were completely put off by the
Seuss-like rhymes, which, although well-executed, rhythm and meter-wise,
seemed to go on for too long. We basically liked the illustrations
which showed the fantasy car the little boy had imagined, and felt that
the illustrations would have worked fine with a sparser text. We liked
the endpapers which showed the boy's plans for his super car. One of our
members thought the little boy looked a bit weird and creepy in the
illustrations, and several of us agreed. Some of us felt it would be a
good read-aloud, and could serve as an impetus for kids to imagine their
own perfect cars or planes or probably anything else.
