Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2004.
Summary:
This book recounts the story of Matthew "Moose" Flanagan, who moves with his family to Alcatraz island and prison when his father gets a job as an electrician/prison guard in 1935. They move to Alcatraz in order for his sister, Natalie, to attend a special school. Natalie is autistic, althought they don't have a word for that in 1935. Moose is generally annoyed by his sister and the way in which his mother put Natalie through many different "treatments" in an attempt to cure her of her special condition. While on the island, Moose makes friends with the children of other prison guards on the island. He also meets Piper, the warden's daughter, who hatches a scheme to make money by charging the students at their school, and then taking their shirts to be washed in the prison laundry where Al Capone works. This stunt gets all of the children in trouble, but in the end it gives Moose an idea of where to go for help when his sister is rejected from the special school.
My Impressions:
This book is a wonderful story about a boy who is put into an unusual living situation, and how he views his relationship with his sister. The story is historical fiction, and does present facts accurately, although the characters of the story are fictitious, except for Al Capone and other historical characters listed. Choldenko includes, in an author's note at the end of the book, a short history of Alcatraz and which elements of her story were true and which were fictitious. In addition, she includes information about Moose's sister Natalie, and the disability of autism. This level of research and dedication allows the reader to experience vicariously what life on Alcatraz island would have been like for a fourteen year old child of a prison guard. In addition, the children will gain factual knowledge through the author's note at the end. Also, children who have never experienced autism, will gain an understanding of the frutstration involved for those associated with the autistic person as well as what the disability does to a person.
Suggestions for the use of this book:
This book could be used in a lesson involving autism, or a history lesson on Alcatraz and crime in the 1930s.
Reviews:
Hogan, Walter. Review of Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko. Voice of Youth Advocates, April 1, 2004.
In 1935, notorious gangster Al Capone is one of three hundred convicts housed in the maximum-security penitentiary on Alcatraz Island. Twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan also lives on the island. His father has taken a position as an electrician and guard at the prison in hopes that Moose's sister, Natalie, will be accepted at a special school in nearby San Francisco. Not only has Moose been forced to leave friends behind and move with his family to a fortress island, but he also cannot play baseball or make new friends now because he is stuck taking care of his sister whenever he is not in school. Natalie is afflicted with the condition now known as autism, and even at age sixteen, she cannot be left unsupervised. Everyone in the family has been under a strain because of Natalie's special needs. Meanwhile Piper, the warden's pretty, spoiled daughter, makes life complicated for Moose. The island's residents have their laundry done by the convicts, and thrill-seeking Piper drags Moose into her wild stunt of marketing Al Capone's laundry services to their middle school classmates in San Francisco. But when his family desperately needs a break in their efforts to get help for Natalie, Moose knows that only Piper has the connections and the audacity to help him pull off a reckless scheme involving the island's most famous inmate. Choldenko, author of Notes from a Liar and Her Dog (Putnam's, 2001/VOYA August 2001), weaves three As-Alcatraz, Al Capone, and autism-into an excellent historical novel for middle-grade readers. A large, annotated 1935 photograph of Alcatraz Island and an informative author's note give substance to the novel's factual sources.
Review of Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko. Publisher's Weekly, February 2, 2004.
Set on Alcatraz Island in 1935, Choldenko's (Notes from a Liar and Her Dog) exceptionally atmospheric novel has equally unusual characters and plot lines. Twelve-year-old narrator Moose Flanagan has just moved to the island, where his father has been hired as an electrician and guard. At first Moose is spooked at being in such close proximity to the nation's most notorious criminals, and he doesn't know what to make of the all-powerful warden's bossy daughter, Piper, who flouts her father's rule about talking about the convicts ("You say [Al Capone's] name and hordes of reporters come crawling out of the woodwork ready to write stories full of foolish lies," the warden explains). At school, on the mainland, Piper hatches a scheme to make money from classmates ("Once in a lifetime opportunity! Get your clothes laundered by Al Capone and other world-famous public enemies!... Only costs 5 cents") and forces Moose to help her. Moose has reasons for staying on Piper's good side: his older sister, Natalie, has what would now be called autism, and Moose worries that her behavior will land the family in trouble with the warden. (Natalie's condition is so poorly understood that an expert tells her desperate mother, "An interesting case... you should consider donating her brain to science when she dies.") Choldenko captures the tense, nuanced family dynamics touched off by Natalie's disability as skillfully as she handles the mystique of Alcatraz and the exchanges between Moose and his friends. Fast-paced and memorable.
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