Al Capone Does My Shirts
by Gennifer Choldenko
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Book Reviews of Al Capone Does My Shirts
Book Review: Al Capone
Summary: 4 Stars
This book, Al Capone Does My Shirts is an historical fiction book written about the time of the Great Depression, 1935. The setting is at San Francisco where, as we all might know, Alcatraz is located. As a kid, I enjoyed it, and I would think that a lot of adults would like it, too. The plot is well written, and the characters are very well thought over and interesting.
This book is about a boy whose family has just moved to Alcatraz Island, because their father is an electrician and guard there. However, his sister has a mental condition. As you can imagine, living in a maximum security prison would bring many hardships to a family whose dad is constantly working overtime, and a daughter who is heavily afflicted with autism. The troubled girl's mom is almost obsessed with trying to cure her, but as we now know there is still no known cure. There is a school that the mother is certain will find a cure for Natalie, the troubled girl, yet there is only one problem: they won't let her in. As a concern to her safety, the family tries to get Natalie into the school as quickly as possible. A new problem rises up; Natalie has been meeting a convict with partial freedom, because he's getting let out soon. As you can see, this is a major problem. When she finds this convict, she starts to talk in complete sentences and is more aware of her surroundings. The main character Moose is also facing problems. The warden's daughter, Piper, has a knack for leading him into trouble. This is a hazard for his father's job, because he could lose it if his son gets in trouble again.
I would recommend this book to anyone ten years older and up; it is a book for all ages. I thought this was an amazing book, and I liked the aspect of the story being in the time of Al Capone, the notorious mob boss. The feeling that this book is real history was put in my mind. This book was so well written I had thought once or twice at the beginning that Gennifer Choldenko had time travelled back in time and talked to this boy herself. I am also looking forward to reading its sequel, Al Capone Shines My Shoes.
Book Review: Al Capone Does My Shirts - or Al Capone Came Up Short?
Summary: 3 Stars
I read the book Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko, and rated it with a lucky 3 stars. The story is a very basic one....your typical boy-meets-friends, friends help boy solve mystery/problem. I didn't particularly find this enticing at all, to be frank. The cover has a very elementary appeal, as well. But back to the story. Moose Flannagan has mixed feeling about moving to Alcatraz with his touchy mother, sympathetic father (whose new jobs are to guard the prison and be the prison's electrician) and autistic sister, Natalie. Autism has not been identified in 1935, the time frame of this book. The gorgeous on the outside, devilishly scandalous on the inside Piper, who is the warden's daughter, mixes Moose in with all of her often stupid ideas/pranks/money making schemes. Moose is very attracted to Piper, but their relationship seems cloudy on the surface. Moose calls her "a looker" and felt himself going red right when he saw her for the first time. That's what I call typical plotline. Moose finds a friend in Scout, a fellow baseball player like himself, but his mother tells him he cannot stay after school to play ball - he must tend to Natalie, who is tantrum-prone and very different from the other kids, who find her increasingly stupid and weird. Moose is the only one who can reach her, which his mother dislikes subtly, you can tell. With a little help from Al Capone himself, Natalie tries to make it into a special school, on her mother's request, which quickly turns into an obsession. This book is frankly very vividly worded, but seemingly dull - very boring to a reader accustomed to action constantly. Other titles I'd recommend are Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata, Undercurrents by Willo Davis Roberta, and Number The Stars by Lois Lowry. By the way, I'm a 7th grader who likes to dance and cheerlead. Perhaps the story would better suit a baseball fanBook Review: Living on The Rock
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very engaging novel for both boys and girls even if they don't live in San Francisco. However, the appeal is going to be even greater if they do, since they can learn some history about the island of Alcatraz along the way.
Ms. Choldenko has mixed history, intrigue of the old gangster days, and humor along with some wonderful moral lessons that are not dated even though the book takes place in the 1930's.
Moose Flannagan moves to Alcatraz with his family during a time when all the guards of the infamous prison, and their families lived on the island. His father is always on call and never fully available, and his mother is consumed by the care of his autistic older sister, Natalie. She is the reason they moved to San Francisco. In hopes of having Natalie attend a special school for young autistic children, they family has set aside all other priorities in the hope of Natalie being able to become somewhat normal. Moose encounters many of the same problems other children face when they relocate i. e., no friends, new school, new surroundings and new rules. A lot for any child to handle and Moose is expected to handle them all as well as his sister. And his biggest roadblock to success is the spoiled daughter of the warden, Piper, who can cook up more trouble than even her father allows. Moose has to make a lot of important choices through out the book and learns a number of important lessons.
The book has wonderful dialogue and will hold anyone's attention. The suspense is great, with humor tossed in, and I loved how the author was able to keep the reader's interest to the very last page.
Book Review: Great YA book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I look forward to 4th quarter of the school year, every year. Not because it's almost time for summer vacation, but because my 7th grade English & reading class reads Al Capone Does My Shirts. It is so fun to teach because the students love it so much and are engaged and totally invested in this book and it's characters.
The best part of the book is hooking the boys with the title, they get so excited when they think that we are reading about Al Capone. And the girls are totally invested from page 1. The language Gennifer Choldenko uses is very realistic dialogue and relatable to the dialogue of students today. While I am unsure if the colorful similes and metaphors are realistic to the 1935's they certainly get a lot of laughs from my students.
While this is not just a story about kids living on Alcatraz, it's much deeper. One of the best aspects of the book is the relationship between Moose and his autistic sister Natalie. While she is not outed in the book as autistic, because in 1935 there wasn't a diagnosis of autism available. My students can usually figure out that Nat is autistic before it is revealed in the authors notes in the back of the book. This is a great teachable moment to pull in information about why Natalie is not in school, the importance of the Ester P. Marinoff school, autism now vs. then, etc. Every year my students ask different questions and we go more in-depth into Natalie.
I highly recommend this book and Al Capone Shines My Shoes, both are great books!
Book Review: My class really enjoyed Al Capone...
Summary: 5 Stars
I used this book in a three week summer school course with eighth graders. I needed a high interest but easy to read novel to catch their interest. AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS was a great choice! They found the setting of Alcatraz very interesting, and they really loved the well-developed characters, especially Moose and Natalie. There are many, many teacher resources for this novel available on the internet. Using ideas from the internet and adding my own personal material, the unit was very easy to plan and carry out. The students wrote daily journal responses to questions relating to various aspects of the book (ideas for prompts are available on Scholastic's web site).
We did some background study which I think added to the students' enjoyment and understanding of the novel. We watched a biography of Al Capone, and we did an internet scavenger hunt to research two topics: Alcatraz and Autism. Doing this early on helped provide context for the students.
The characters in AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS are probably the most interesting aspect of the book. My students seemed particularly fascinated by how Natalie, the main character's sister who has autism, changes and develops through the story. They could really relate to a lot of the things the protagonist (Moose) goes through, even though he lives on Alcatraz in 1935. To me, that's the power of a great book -- it contains themes that are universal. I would highly recommend this book for middle school students, whether it be as a group study or individual reading. It has a great ending too!