MMGM: All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

For some reason, a lot of the books I've been featuring lately have been written by residents of the Northwest region of this country. (What's in the air out there, writers, that makes you so talented?) But New England is a pretty talent-saturated area itself, and today for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I'm proud to present a book by one of my favorite Connecticut authors, Leslie Connor. 

Description from the publisher:

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?


My take:

The publisher compares this title to the bestsellers Wonder and When You Reach Me. I don't really agree...because honestly I felt this was more tightly plotted and more endearing in character than either of those books. As you can see, the premise requires a bit of suspension of disbelief--until you actually get about three pages into the book, at which point you totally believe that every character must actually exist because how could someone just make up people so true?

Perry is one of the best main characters I have ever read. He's funny and resourceful--and he is good. As in, holy-good. As in, trying to grow in virtue and perfect himself and care about others (even the people who hurt him!) more than he cares about himself. He forgives those who want forgiveness and those who don't. He accepts everyone in the most virtuous sense of that word: he sees the good in them and the potential in them even when they can't see it themselves. He loves his mother deeply and respects her completely. And yet...he's still spunky and fun and not the least bit Little-Lord-Fauntleroy-ish.

And don't even get me started on the secondary characters. Such a great bunch.

Call me a Catholic nerd, but I couldn't help feeling while reading this what a perfect choice it was for Lent and for this extraordinary jubilee Year of Mercy. It would be a great conversation starter book to read with your older middle grade child!

To find some more great middle grade recommendations, visit Shannon Messenger's blog!

(Note: Since I am an Amazon Associate, if you make a purchase after clicking through the photo-link, I will receive a small percentage of the sale. Better yet, buy the book from your local bookseller!)