Eleven-year-old Perry Cook is a kind, openhearted boy who is growing up in the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in Surprise, Neb., a minimum-security facility where his mother is incarcerated for reasons that aren't entirely clear to him.
Perry loves the staff and "rezzies" like they are family, and his Blue River family loves him back, their very own "mouse in the house." Still, he and his mother dream of the day she will get out on parole, and the two can start over "on the outside." When the local district attorney, Thomas VanLeer, decides to play the hero and pull the boy out of the prison, "for his own good," Perry's world falls apart. Sure, VanLeer's home is super-fancy, and Perry will be living with his best friend, Zoey Samuels, who is the DA's stepdaughter... but all Perry wants is to be home at Blue River with his mother. When he undertakes a school project that entails interviewing Blue River inmates--asking "What are you in for?"--he realizes that the specifics of his mother's case don't quite add up. As Perry begins his own investigation, this engaging novel turns into a genuine, suspenseful mystery.
Leslie Connor (Waiting for Normal; Crunch) restores faith in humanity with All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook. Its earnest, compassionate boy hero gives everyone a fair shake, judging others only when wronged, bullied or misled--perhaps the upside to growing up in a prison full of nuanced, heartbreaking stories. The world needs Perry right now, and readers will hold him in their hearts. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness