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Book Review By Samantha S.
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

When twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 after his father gets a job as a prison guard and electrician, he wonders if he'll ever be able to fit it. Back then, guards were required to live on the premises, in case of a prison break. There are other children living on the island, but he does not have another boy his age who likes baseball the way he does. He and the warden's daughter, Piper, take the ferry to San Francisco to attend school. There, Piper enlists his help in one of her many schemes -- to take other childrens' shirts (for profit) and return them after they have been laundered in the Prison facilities. She claims that Al Capone (the infamous gangster) works in the laundry room.

Moose makes friends with the other boys in school, but because he must care for his sister, Natalie, after school, he cannot stay to play ball with them. Natalie is autistic at a time when medical professionals did not understand autism. Their mother hopes to enroll her at the Esther P. Marinoff School, but various factors (her age, her mental difficulties, her obsessions) keep dashing these hopes. Moose tries to protect his sister and help his family survive during times of poverty. He worries about her welfare and must decide whether to let her organize her button collection inside (where it's safe) or take her outside (where he is unsure of how she'll be treated by other residents of Alcatraz Island).

After an incident between Natalie and a prisoner, Moose becomes frightened for her. He doesn't know if she can live in society. He wants to protect her but doesn't know how. Later, when she is rejected by the Esther P. Marinoff School (again), Moose writes a letter to Al Capone which Piper helps him sneak into the pile of letters meant for the prisoner. At the end of the book Natalie is accepted by the special school and Moose finds a note in his freshly laundered shirt.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - humorous
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Life of a profession:
Family, caring for ill Yes
Who is sick? - Sister
because he/she is - mentally ill
Is this an adult or child's book? - Age 11-14
Job/Profession/Status story Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - a kid
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - a teen
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes
Eccentric:

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 ()
United States Yes
The US: - California
Island? Yes
Misc setting

Writing Style
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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