First in Friendship, Fourth in Obesity
Plan your vacation to Pawnee, IN with the latest guidebook by Leslie Knope
Fans of the hit NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation often dream of what it would be like to live in the idyllic small town of Pawnee, IN. Now, thanks to the writers of the show, viewers will get a fact-filled glimpse into the city famous for being the birthplace of Julia Roberts (and for being the city involved with the world famous Julia Roberts lawsuit).
Now available for online order, Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America is advertised as being “written, compiled, researched, typed, collated, proofread, and run through spell check” by the series’ lead heroine Leslie Knope, deputy director of the titular parks and recreation department.
The city guide, of course, is actually a comprehensive work between actress Amy Poehler and the show’s writers and producers. However, great pains were taken to ensure that the book felt that it was actually written by the eternally optimistic, exuberant and workaholic Knope.
The book is cast as Knope’s personal love letter to the fictional city popularly known for its ongoing raccoon infestation. Knope also gives readers a painstaking history of the town and it’s founding by Rev. Luther Howell of Terra Haute. Fun fact: The city gained its name not from the Great Plains Native American tribe, but because Rev. Howell was an illiterate whose scrawling of “Paradise” on the city charter was misread.
Fans of the series will probably have also noticed that the book itself played a key role in last night’s episode, which featured Leslie’s efforts to promote the book being stalled due to a disagreement over its content. Now fans will have the chance to basically be the owners of an actual plot point.
And don’t count out the other inhabitants of Pawnee from giving their own insights to the Greatest Town in America. Other characters from the show will also provide exclusive excerpts for the book, including parks department director Ron Swanson. You can even read a preview Ron’s wilderness diary here.
So while fans still won’t get the chance to try out Sweetums’s corn syrup-infused energy bars or take part in a raucous public forum, they can still dream what it would be like to live in the Akron of Southwest Indiana.