All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

Title: All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook

Author: Leslie Connor

Narrators: Michael Crouch and Kathleen McInerney

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, 2016

Format: 8 compact discs, 9 1/2 hours

Genre: middle school fiction

Obtained: library



Synopsis: Perry T. Cook has spent his life growing up in the Blue River Co-Ed Correctional Facility.  Although a nontraditional upbringing, Perry has had a great life with a "family" that loves him.  When the new district attorney finds out about the arrangement of letting Perry's incarcerated mother raise him in jail, he acts swiftly to have Perry removed and put into a foster home.  Will Perry be reunited with his mother?

Thoughts: I just loved this book!  My eleven year old son and I listened to this book in the car as we drove to places we needed to be.  It is one of the books nominated for the Massachusetts Children's Book Award sponsored by Salem State University.  If my son reads, has read to him, or listens to at least 5 books on this list, he can vote for the winner in March.  Logan, my eleven year old son, liked this book too, but it was a bit above his comprehension level.  As we talked about the book, I noticed he sometimes didn't quite understand parts of it, but he got enough out of it to enjoy the story.  This book is recommended for grades 5 through 8, but I think this is a great book for the whole family.  I am always looking for audiobooks for family trips and this is a fantastic one, especially if you have older kids.

The reader gets to know the characters in this story on a personal level and I felt like they were real people.  The complex characters was the biggest, of the many strengths of this book.  The story was captivating and unique.  The setting was new and interesting, especially for a middle school book.  I felt like I was right there with the characters.  I could picture the story happening in my head.  The narrators were terrific and read at just the right pace and with emotion, and made the story very easy to follow.

The author gently discusses some heavy topics including incarcerated parents and foster homes.  She focuses on hope and perserverence when things aren't looking too good, and shows that it is okay to get support when you need it.  She uses Big Ed to give excellent advice on how to handle tough times.  The author conveys what community is and talks about laws and trials on a level kids can understand.  She expresses that everything isn't black and white nor good or bad, but there is always something in the middle.  Most importantly, she shows that there are many different types of families and just how important it is to have one.

I highly recommend this book!


                                                                     

Company: Plum Deluxe

Tea: Vanilla Sugar Cookie Dessert Tea

Obtained: sample with tea of the month club


Vanilla Sugar Cookie Dessert Tea from Plum Deluxe is caffeine free.  The ingredients are green rooibus, cinnamon chips, blackberry leaf, ginger root, fennel seeds, and vanilla essences.  The small leaves in my sample package were all shades of browns and creams and were mixed with chunks and seeds of similar colors.  The leaves smelled like an oatmeal cookie fresh out of the oven.  I poured a cup of water that had been boiled over a teaspoon of leaves and let this sit for four minutes.  The liquid was a yellowish or orange brown, depending on how the light hit it.  The scent was of an oatmeal cookie, but not as strong of a scent as the leaves.  The taste was a combination of sweet and spice.  At first the taste was of a snicker doodle- a very sweet cinnamon taste, but after swallowing the liquid there was a peppery taste, which I believe came from the combination of fennel seeds and ginger.  This is not a tea I would normally choose to drink.  I usually don't like sweet tea or vanilla, but the peppery finish just added something extra here that made this one enjoyable.  This was a wonderful afternoon treat!