Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I feel like I have said this before...but I have been reading a great deal about this book on Twitter and I finally picked it up the other day. I am so glad I did. What a beautiful, brilliant, lovely book. Eleanor and Park is the story of two young kids who strike up a relationship because they are thrown together on the school bus. Eleanor is new to the school and has an amazing attitude- an "I don't care what you think" attitude. She dresses very differently from anyone else and basically keeps to herself. Park is a half Korean, half American boy who tries not to get noticed by the kids he grew up with who have the potential to make his life miserable. What they find with each other is a friendship and love that is just the sweetest thing to read. One of the things I loved most about this book was that it was set in the 1980's, so the pop culture references were something that I loved to read. Having said that, I don't think it would take away from anyone who didn't grow up during the 80's. The book has a timeless feel to it, since the focus is more on the relationship between Eleanor and Park rather than the setting. I must caution you however that there are some edgy bits to it. Eleanor has a very terrible home life and many kids wouldn't be ready to read some of what she talks about. I am still on the fence about leaving it 'out there' for any elementary student in grade 7 or 8 to read. For high school though I wouldn't hesitate for a minute. I just loved this story!