All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook: A Middle Grade Story about Found Family, Unbreakable Bonds, and a Fight for Justice for Children (Ages 8-12) - Hardcover

Connor, Leslie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062333461 ISBN 13: 9780062333469

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2016

Synopsis

Junior Library Guild Selection * Kids’ Indie Next List Pick

From Leslie Connor, award-winning author of Waiting for Normal and Crunch, comes a soaring and heartfelt story about love, forgiveness, and how innocence makes us all rise up. All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook is a powerful story, perfect for fans of Wonder and When You Reach Me.

Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom at the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C, and so far Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them to be together. That is, until a new district attorney discovers the truth—and Perry is removed from the facility and forced into a foster home.

When Perry moves to the “outside” world, he feels trapped. Desperate to be reunited with his mom, Perry goes on a quest for answers about her past crime. As he gets closer to the truth, he will discover that love makes people resilient no matter where they come from . . . but can he find a way to tell everyone what home truly means?

• A Unique Found Family: Perry’s home is a correctional facility, and his family includes the kind, funny, and sometimes lost residents of Blue River who have watched him grow up.
• An Unbreakable Mother-Son Bond: When a new district attorney separates Perry from his incarcerated mother, he’ll do anything to find his way back to her.
• The True Meaning of Home: A heartfelt and thought-provoking story that challenges readers to ask what makes a family and where we truly belong.
• A Fight for Justice: To reunite his family, eleven-year-old Perry must investigate his mother’s past crime and prove to the world that love is more powerful than any prison wall.

About this title

About the Author

Leslie Connor is the author of several award-winning books for children, including two ALA Schneider Family Book Award winners, Waiting for Normal and The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, which was also selected as a National Book Award finalist. Her other books include All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, Crunch, and The Things You Kiss Goodbye. She lives in the Connecticut woods with her family and three rescue dogs. You can visit her online at www.leslieconnor.com.

Reviews

Gr 5–7—Eleven-year-old Perry's home life is like that of most kids his age: morning ritual, school, dinner with his mom, and games with his extended family. Unlike other kids, however, Perry lives at the Blue River Co-Ed Correctional Facility, where he's stayed since birth with his mother, Jessica. Nearing the end of her sentence, Jessica is up for parole, and she and Perry are eager to start a new life on the outside. Opposing Jessica's parole is the county's ambitious district attorney, Tom VanLeer, stepfather of Perry's best friend. VanLeer is outraged that a child was raised in a prison and demands that Perry live with the VanLeers while the case is sorted out. Perry knows he has traded a prison that feels like home for a home that feels like a prison. He resolves to reunite with his mother and have her appeal granted. Connor subtly conveys Perry's restrained anger over being torn from his Blue River family (for instance, the boy refers to objects in his foster home as "the VanLeer closet" or "a VanLeer towel"). Perry is a memorable protagonist whose unusual upbringing gives him an understanding of and faith in human nature that brings out the best in everyone around him. He's a perfect foil for the superficial morality of VanLeer, who is no match for Perry's integrity when the boy confronts the adult on his duplicity, declaring, "Your word is no good." Rich characterizations give the novel its big heart: Jessica, Big Ed, and the other Blue River inmates are nuanced, vivid characters whose stories of perseverance after tragedy embody the novel's themes of redemption, hope, and community. VERDICT This beautifully written work will send readers' spirits soaring.—Marybeth Kozikowski, Sachem Public Library, Holbrook, NY

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062333461
• ISBN 13: 9780062333469
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400