Parked by Danielle Svetcov

It doesn’t seem right to be living in a van in a city this rich, this dazzling. 

I don’t think Mom imagined how badly this could go for us. I think she only pictured good. 

I can imagine how bad, though. 

I read Oliver Twist in fourth grade. I can imagine a lot.

“Why are you living in a van?” Cal asks. How long has he waited to ask that hot potato? ... “Did you hear my question?” “Yes.” But it’s my question. I ask it in my sleeping bag every night, staring at a rusted ceiling. I ask it every morning when I wake up, stiff on a deflated pad. 

I ask it when I’m trudging to the public bathroom with the overflowing garbage cans 

and the sinks that only run ice water.

The setting for this story is San Francisco - and yes even if you haven't been there you will get a feel for the city with its harbour views and very hilly streets. Readers aged 10+ will also gain a good insight into the lives of people with extreme housing insecurity. 

The lives of Cal and Jeanne Ann are set to collide. 

Jeanne Ann's mother moves her daughter across the country to California. When they get there Joyce cannot find a job and the promised housing is no longer available. Mother and daughter are forced to live in their van which they nickname Carrot. Meanwhile Cal lives across the road in a huge house which has a wall of windows to face the glorious views. Cal's mother manages a restaurant, but she no longer cooks there. They serve vegetarian food. Jeanne Ann's mother is a cook and her specialty is eggs and she most certainly is not a vegetarian. Joyce mother also collects cookery books. But she is a loud and opinionated lady and it seems no one will hire her. Surely there is a way to link Cal's mum with Jeanne Ann's mum so we can all enjoy the happy ending but NO things in life are never that simple. 

Cal is an artist but he is in trouble because he created a huge art piece on the wall of his 'posh' school. His mother decides his punishments will be working in her restaurant and limited access to his art materials but this does not stop Cal from continuing to draw and also from caring about the van dwellers who live across the street from his house. Cal also has to change to the public middle school.

Jeanne Ann sure is stubborn and she won't accept help from anyone especially Cal. Cal on the other hand is so kind and he is a problem solver, and he has some emotional intelligence. He knows Jeanne Ann needs space and she has her pride, but he absolutely does not give up on her. Jeanne Ann is desperate to start middle school but she has no fixed address and so cannot be enrolled. 

There is a little thread in this book based on the overdue book notice from Chicago where Jeanne Ann used to live. She has a huge list of overdue books and then Jeanne Ann 'pawns' a heap of book at a local shop to raise money for basics like food. I worried about this firstly because with each letter from the library the fines grow bigger and bigger and secondly because it seemed the book would never be returned - but there is a fantastic resolution to all of this which will make all library users smile. Also, her list of overdue books could give you some terrific titles to explore yourself. I also love the librarian Mrs Jablonsky. Mrs. Jablonsky treated new library card registrations like magical events. She’d have released balloons from the ceiling for every single one if the library had had a budget for it.

 

Here are some text quotes:

The store there has been vacant since somebody invented the Internet in 1990-something, Mom says, but no one ever took down the posters that are taped to the inside of the glass, facing out. There’s one of the Eiffel Tower and one of the Taj Mahal. And one of the Golden Gate Bridge. They’re all faded like everything else on this block, but Mom likes to tap the glass over the Golden Gate Bridge poster like she’s got a plan. Which she does. I know she does. She just hasn’t shared it with me yet.

We’re at the front of a line of vans that look a lot like ours—drained of blood. I thought they were abandoned, but last night I caught sight of an arm popped out of a window two vans back; it dumped something wet and steamy onto the sidewalk. Not a good sign.

Mom calls someone who scratches at the same worry, over and over, a “grinder.” I am definitely grinding. But Labor Day is when school starts in Chicago. It’s gotta start around the same time here. And I’m pretty sure I can’t go without an address. I know I can’t check out a library book without one.

I settle my eyes on the homes across the street. To them, looking down, we’re just a shadowy crease, like in the fold of my book. Everything that matters is off to the sides of us—the water and bridge out my window, the mansions and hills out Mom’s. We’re in the no-place place.

The absence of a credit card is like the absence of a thumb, Mom says. You can’t grip things tightly. We lived in a crummy apartment in Chicago because of the absence of a credit card. We live in this van because of the absence of a credit card. We can’t pay this new parking ticket. Missing a thumb is something you notice quick.

Parked has 400 pages but I read the whole book in one day on a long train journey - and yes, it is THAT good! I always enjoy books with different voice and Danielle Svetcov makes this easy to identify with alternating chapters and a different font for each of these kids. 

Kirkus, however, think this book is too long and there are too many neat coincidences, but it did hold my attention right to the end. I did have one reservation myself (hence the 4 stars) - I was not sure why Cal drew all his images of people with wings and I wanted to know a little more about his absent dad and his distant mum. I did enjoy the minor characters - the crazy kid who keeps escaping from his daycare/summer activities program and the generous and kind man in the van next door. 

Ms Yingling also has a few reservations about Parked:

The juxtaposition of Cal and Jeanne Ann's lives was particularly interesting since they lived on the same street. The details of why the family ends up living in a van, and how they manage various activities is important in helping young readers understand how others may face difficulties they may not. Cal's presence makes the neighborhood initiative to remove the vans more interesting, and the fact that Jeanne Ann loves reading will immediately endear this to librarians and language arts teachers. The San Francisco setting and the different restaurants adds to the appeal of this.

Publisher blurb: Jeanne Ann is smart, stubborn, living in an orange van, and determined to find a permanent address before the start of seventh grade. Cal is awkward, sensitive, living in a humongous house across the street, and determined to save her. Jeanne Ann wants Cal's help just about as much as she wants to live in a van. As the two form a tentative friendship that grows deeper over alternating chapters, they're buoyed by a cast of complex, oddball characters, who let them down, lift them up, and leave you cheering. Debut novelist Danielle Svetcov shines a light on a big problem without a ready answer, pulling it off with the perfect balance of humor, heartbreak, and hope.

When I am travelling I like to read books on an e-reader so my next few blog posts I will share the books I read over the last couple of weeks.

Parked was published in 2020 but a paperback from 2021 is currently available here in Australia.