Eleven-year-old Perry Cook is a kind, openhearted boy growing up in the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in Surprise, Neb., a minimum-security facility where his mother is incarcerated for nebulous reasons. As Perry begins his own investigation into her past, this winsome novel turns into a genuinely suspenseful mystery.
Perry loves the staff and "rezzies," and his Blue River family loves him back. 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, who is the DA's stepdaughter... but all Perry wants is to be home at Blue River with his mother.
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 complicated, heartbreaking stories. The world needs Perry, and readers will be glad to know him. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness