Book Description
for The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate DeGoldi and Gregory O'Brien
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Nine-year-old Perry, a special-needs learner at school and clearly a trial to the patience of her parents at home, has a designated activity every afternoon: piano lessons, music and movement, clarinet lessons, tutoring. Perry’s grandmother, Honora Lee, has dementia and lives at Santa Lucia, a nearby care facility. She generally doesn’t recognize Perry, or even Perry’s dad. But when Perry’s Tuesday music and movement class is cancelled, she decides to visit her grandmother every week and, as part of a project for school, to create an ABC book about Santa Lucia. Despite Perry’s struggles elsewhere, there is something just right about her interactions at Santa Lucia. She is able to engage with her grandmother and other residents without disappointment or judgment. She’s also observant, and notices small details of the lives of people who live there, some of which become part of her book. The staff appreciate Perry — they all share the same gift of accepting each one of the inhabitants of Santa Lucia for who they are now. A funny and poignant novel featuring gorgeous spot illustrations never strives to makes a point; rather, it allows the story of Perry and Santa Lucia to unfold for readers to experience and think about. (Ages 8–11)
CCBC Choices 2015. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2015. Used with permission.