Leslie Connor

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?

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

Sarah Sammis

Cassidy

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

I created a new shelf for this one: Tough Stuff. 

This novel reminds me of "Man's Search for Meaning"-- in an infinitely gentler, more humane setting -- a story full of characters working intentionally to find the"win win" in every day, still needing to make the choice every day for hope and against despair. And this is Perry's choice every day, too, whether that means living a happy if unconventional life with your mom in a minimum security prison or whether it means dealing with a judgmental District Attorney who finds out you're living in a minimum security prison with your mom and decides to take you from her and the only home you've ever known. There's a lot for 11 year-old Perry to make sense of here, a deepening mystery about why his mom was incarcerated for involuntary manslaughter in the first place, and how to deal with a world of laws and adults who make all the decisions and never even think about asking the child and what he wants or needs. Who would ever suspect that Perry T. Cook had a loving, supportive home in a correctional facility? But that's what he had. 

I think many people "on the outside" of the system judge people who end up in prison harshly and with little to no true compassion. However, like many of us, the stories of the residents of Blue River Co-Ed Correctional Facility are full of desperate decisions for the people we love and sometimes irreversible mistakes to protect those we love. Or those times when we are so committed to teaching someone a lesson we go too far. Of course, there are those in Blue River that blatantly broke the law for their own benefit and chafe angrily under the same circumstances. But ultimately, this is a story about second chances and who deserves them, a story that finds ways to answer the complicated question, "What is it to live an honorable life?" through the choices and loving actions of a young boy and his mom. Highly recommended for grades 6 and up.

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

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