The ACB with Honora Lee

Starred review from January 27, 2014
New Zealand writer De Goldi’s (The 10 PM Question) story of an only child’s determined efforts to know and love her grandmother deserves a place in the pantheon of quiet, word-of-mouth classics. Perry’s mother, a psychologist, has the nine-year-old scheduled up to the hilt (“Monday was piano with Gabriel.... Wednesday was clarinet with James”); her father jets off to conferences overseas. When Thursday’s activity is cancelled, Perry proposes weekly visits to the nursing home where Gran is hospitalized with dementia, and a strange and touching friendship unfolds. Perry, who’s as good at drawing as she is hopeless at everything else, begins assembling the alphabet book of the title—Gran’s name is Honora Lee—and sets down with beguiling honesty all she sees at the nursing home (“W is for Walking Stick, which Melvyn uses as a Weapon”). Over time, it becomes clear that Gran’s inability to recognize people does not mean that her life is any less precious or noble. Perry is funny and bewitching, and all the other characters, even the walk-ons, are equally engaging. O’Brien’s curious diagram-illustrations pay appropriate tribute to Perry’s admiration for the unconventional. Ages 10–up.

March 15, 2014
Colorful, chaotic line drawings that incorporate elements of the story embellish this novel about a girl's newfound relationship to her senile grandmother. As the story opens, 9-year-old only-child Perry, denied even a pet by her well-meaning but goal-oriented parents, laments her lonely fate. "There was just Perry and her parents, and week after week after week full to the brim with after-school activities...." Little does she know, she's about to begin spending much more time with her grandmother, Honora, whose move to Santa Lucia, an elder care facility nearby, happily coincides with the surprise cancellation of her weekly music-and-movement class. De Goldi's quickly paced style is enormous fun to read and is well-suited to the wordplay that results when Perry embarks on creating an abecedary based on words she encounters during her visits with her Gran and the quirky, appealing residents and staff of Santa Lucia. Perry's precocious, gregarious nature will win readers' hearts, even if at times some of the humor might appeal more to adults than kids; they'll better understand the joke, for example, when, as her dad tries to explain his use of a figure of speech, Perry innocently exclaims, "I'm a Figure of No Speech." Clever, poignant and sweetly funny, this will be especially appreciated by those who've experienced a loved one with dementia. (Fiction. 8-12)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 4-7-Elderly Honora Lee lives in the Santa Lucia rest home. Suffering from dementia, she rarely recognizes her granddaughter when she visits. But Honora's pithy comments, old-fashioned sayings, and bossing of the other residents intrigue and amuse Perry, who decides to create an alphabet book that will bring some order and understanding to the residents. Her book becomes an "ACB"-a lovingly drawn, mixed-up alphabet reflecting the lives and characters of the staff and residents. Nine-year-old Perry is an endearing character, a quirky, curious only child who lives a lonely life. Her parents put their energies into their professional lives and middle-class pursuits, and Perry spends her time at afterschool activities and with her nanny, Nina. It is not surprising that she tries to create a family by spending time with her grandmother. Despite the sadness and confusion of the rest home, she finds friendship and caring from the residents and the committed staff. Like Perry, the book itself is an original, with quirky, full-color illustrations that are fitting but unusual interpretations of the text. The subject matter and the author's gently bemused style of writing won't have wide child appeal; adult readers are the better audience.-Michelle Anderson, Tauranga City Libraries, New Zealand

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2014
Grades 4-7 Only-child Perry is overscheduledpiano lessons, clarinet lessons, after-school tutoring, and dancebut when one of her weekday afternoons opens up, she decides that she will spend it with her grandmother, Honora Lee, at her nursing home. Honora's senility is fairly advanced, and she can be cantankerous, but Perry seems unphased. At first her parents are skeptical, but determined Perry has made up her mind. Hoping to find something she and her gran can bond over, Perry notices Honora's obsession with spelling and decides to illustrate an alphabet book using her help. Over the course of the next several months, smart and observant Perry narrates in a matter-of-fact tone as she gets to know her gran and the nursing home residents by writing down things about them for each letter of the alphabetthough thanks to the scatterbrained residents, her abecedary is fittingly all out of order. De Goldi's (The 10 P.M. Question, 2010) quiet story, illustrated with O'Brien's lovely full-color abstract drawings, tells a moving tale of patience, compassion, and family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)