The ACB with Honora Lee

by Kate De Goldi, Gregory O'Brien (Illustrator)

Overview

Perry's mother and father are busy people ... they're impatient, they're tired, they get cross easily. And they think that only children, like Perry, should be kept busy. On Saturday mornings Perry and her father visit her gran, Honora Lee, at the Santa Lucia rest home, but Gran never remembers them. 'Who is that man?' Honora Lee asks when Perry's father leaves the room. After movement class is abruptly cancelled, Perry is allowed to go to Santa Lucia on Thursday afternoons. She discovers her Gran has an unconventional interest in the alphabet, so Perry decides to make an alphabet book with the help of Honora and the others. Soon everyone is interested in Perry's book project. The ACB With Honora Lee unfolds with characteristic warmth, quirky, surprising humor and a rich cast of 'residents'. The story is a meditation on kindness and patience and acceptance; that of the very young and the very old. It's a story that will resonate with echoes of recollection for many — from Perry's endearing perspective on the adult world to the embracing kindness of those who care for the elderly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770497221
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	04/08/2014
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

KATE DeGOLDI is one of New Zealand's most loved authors. The author of the phenomenal The 10 PM Question, which has been published extensively overseas, she is a two-time winner of the New Zealand Post Children's Book of the Year Award. She has held several major fellowships and is a respected broadcaster, book festival chair and public speaker. She is also dedicated and committed to working with children.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/27/2014
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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Nine-year-old Perry has always been a little bit different, noticing things around her that a lot of people would not. Perry’s parents try to fill her days with activities, signing her up for piano, clarinet, after-school tutoring, and a music and movement class. The one thing that really sparks Perry’s interest, however, is visiting her elderly grandmother, Honora Lee, at her retirement home, Santa Lucia. Just like Perry, Honora is a bit quirky. She insists that Perry is a boy, and when working on an alphabet book with Perry and the other people at Santa Lucia, Honora calls out letters completely out of order and makes up sentences that make no sense. Despite this, Perry looks forward to her days at Santa Lucia and working on her collaborative ABC (or ACB) book. Each letter of the alphabet is inspired by happenings during her time spent with Honora, like “M is for Much Smoother,” when Gran’s nails got filed. It is a task that Perry takes very seriously. As Perry spends more and more time at Santa Lucia, she forms a strong bond with her Gran, one that neither of her parents understands. This is a very sweet story about patience, individualism, and acceptance. While not many people understand Perry, she finds friendship with her Gran and the other elderly residents at Santa Lucia. An unlikely bond forms despite Gran’s obvious dementia. Perry’s patience is heartwarming, and De Goldi does a great job of creating a character and situations that jump off the page as you read. O’Brien’s illustrations do not add much to the story; they would mean more if they were actual drawings from the ACB book. This is a sweet read that will appeal to a younger audience. Reviewer: Loryn Aman; Ages 11 to 14.

Voya Reviews, April 2014 (Vol. 36, No. 1) - Loryn Aman

2014-02-26
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)

Kirkus Reviews

SELECTION - The Globe & Mail 100 Best Books of 2014

PRAISE FOR The ACB With Honora Lee:

"De Goldi's 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 is funny and bewitching, and all of 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." —Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

"Clever, poignant and sweetly funny, this will be especially appreciated by those who've experienced a loved one with dementia." --Kirkus Reviews

"This is not a predictable tale of hands-across-the-generations—there is no treacle in it, no weepy climax—but a portrait of an understanding heart and an exploration of the natural craving for order, however eccentric it turns out to be." —The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

05/01/2014
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

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