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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
To be honest, I wasn't quite sure how much I'd like this novel. A kid living in a jail? Really?! But I quickly fell in love with Perry T. Cook.
There are two things that really made this novel so enjoyable for me:
1) Perry is such a good kid. Taking into account his living situation, Perry is a truly thoughtful and kind young man. He is the "morning sun" of the facility and sees 'wins' in the smallest of situations.
2) The novel wasn't depressing! While the pages are filled with some heavy topics, Perry shows great empathy and the Blue River residents see this time in their life as a new opportunity and to be raised up to something better.
I highly recommend it and am looking forward to sharing Perry T. Cook with my students this school year!
There are two things that really made this novel so enjoyable for me:
1) Perry is such a good kid. Taking into account his living situation, Perry is a truly thoughtful and kind young man. He is the "morning sun" of the facility and sees 'wins' in the smallest of situations.
2) The novel wasn't depressing! While the pages are filled with some heavy topics, Perry shows great empathy and the Blue River residents see this time in their life as a new opportunity and to be raised up to something better.
I highly recommend it and am looking forward to sharing Perry T. Cook with my students this school year!
It makes a good story with a lot of good lessons, but I can't help thinking it's insensitive to kids of incarcerated parents. It feels a bit glamorized and not really true to life. Such is often the way of fiction I suppose. But the adjacency to real life makes me think this isn't great for this particular book.
As a 4th grade teacher, I would say you need to know how mature your kids are to read this to them. Some may be able to handle it, but some of the criminal activity may be more 5th grade appropriate. This book teaches about loving thy neighbor and teacher empathy towards others who are in different situations than you. Always a good moral at school. It is a quick read with short chapters.
Perry’s mom is an inmate at Blue River Co-Ed Correctional Facility in Surprise, Nebraska. He was born and raised there, and he knows all the rules and all the inmates. The new district attorney, however, finds out about Perry’s living arrangements, and forces Perry to live “on the outside” in a foster home. Perry is determined to find answers about his mom’s crime and discover the truth about why she’s really behind bars.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Gave me depression.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment
I loved this book! The narrator was wonderful and the story was perfect. The characters were well developed and I loved the lessons that were taught at the prison, especially to look for the wins.
I do not know what you would NOT like about this book! What a touching and delightful story! It is the story of 11 year old Perry Cook who has lived his whole life in a prison. Perry was born there as his mother was incarcerated and spent his years growing up in the prison, going out to attend school, and then coming back everyday. At age 11, he has to do a project for school and becomes interested in the lives of those in the prison along with his own mother's story. What he uncovers leads to more questions and pushes even more for his mother's parole. LOVED everything about this one!!!
This book I thought was very cute and fun to read but it felt boring many times and saying to myself why am I reading this, but anyhow it was a fine, cute book.
Holy moly this took me a long time to finished. I liked it but not sure why I struggled. I was interested in the story line but I felt like the book wasn't as fast paced to keep me intrigued. Lots of interesting twists.