Parked by Danielle Svetcov is a heart-warming, yet at the same time heart-rending novel about kindness and friendship, helplessness, and the plight of someone who is homeless. Misunderstood Cal, who loves to draw and always wears beige, is determined to help Jeanne Ann, a girl who loves to read and is fiercely stubborn, who is living in a van with her mom camped on Cal’s street in San Fransisco. They have moved there from Chicago and are homeless. As Cal reaches out in as many different ways as he can possibly think of to help them, Jeanne Ann’s proud defensiveness eventually is worn down, and they become friends. Like all friendships, there are ups and downs as they try to overcome their own challenges. They soon, however, learn that sometimes that is a little easier with the help of a friend.

The author does an amazing job pulling the reader in emotionally. The helplessness that Jeanne Ann feels, even as she puts on a brave face, is poignant and real. The frustration of Cal as you realize his mom doesn’t really get how kind and big-hearted he is, as well as the frustration one feels with Jeanne Ann’s mom who doesn’t get how desperate their situation is, was quite palpable as well. Even the side characters and their contributions to the novel have the reader invested in them at an emotional level. Parked really was a moving novel that causes the reader to think a little differently.

This novel is also such a great example of how kindness and helpfulness, even with little things, can go such a long way. It teaches that those who seem helpless and homeless are real people, dealing with real problems, and have various reasons for being that way. Parked is such a well-written novel about such a complex issue that the reader will come out a better person for having read it.

Review of an Advance Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Penguin Group

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  1 religious exclamation; 1 mild obscenity. 

Violence/Gore:  Secondhand account of someone whacking another person in the head with a frying pan; character wonders if another person has killed someone and wants help burying the body; character shoves someone making them stumble; character smacks another person on the arm; character kicks another person in the shin; character tells of the time he was slapped; character  pulls on a man’s beard. 

Sex/Nudity:  Girl rests her head on a boy’s shoulder; man kisses wife 2 times; boy holds girl’s hand.

Mature Subject Matter:

Homelessness.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None