Al Capone Is My Shirts is a historical fiction novel for young adults by author Gennifer Choldenko. In this story, Moose Flanagan and his family moved from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island. The move was due to the father's new job position as an electrician and as a guard at the famous Alcatraz jail. The book was named as Newbery Honor's choice and in 2007 he received the California Young Reader Medal. It has two sequels, Al Capone Shines My Shoes and Al Capone Does My Homework.
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Plot
Moose Flanagan and his family consisted of Cam's father, Helen's mother, and Natalie's sister moved from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island in the 1930s. The move was due to Cam's new work as an electrician and guard at Alcatraz jail. The Flanagans pretended that Natalie, who is fifteen and has autism, only ten in the hope of getting her confession to Esther P. Marinoff School, an offshore school for children with mental illness directed by Mr. Purdy. The lie is encouraged by Moose's mother, who believes that Marinoff School is Natalie's only hope to heal and wants to avoid sending Natalie to a mental institution. Due to her busy parent work schedule, Moose is left with almost full responsibility from Natalie while she also tries to adjust to the new school on the island. Natalie was admitted to Esther P. Marinoff School, but was sent back home immediately because she had trouble adjusting to school. Mother Moose and the new psychologist Natalie, Ny. Kelly, encourages Moose to take care of Natalie and take her wherever she goes to help improve her social skills.
Moose became friends with the warden's daughter, Piper, who regularly gets into trouble in his quest to earn money to get off Alcatraz. Piper spoke to him to be part of his money scheme, making inmates on the island do laundry for the kids at school. When the scheme is packed and the Warden hears it, children are punished and have to find new ways to spend their time. In an effort to gain acceptance, Moose was around the center of the prisoner's retreat in hopes of finding wild baseball for use in games with other children. Moose finally noticed his older sister Natalie developing a relationship with prisoners 105, also known as Bawang, who was trusted and able to roam free because her sentence was running out. Onions know Moose has been looking for baseball, giving Moose a ball. Afraid of her sister hanging out with inmates, Moose is only convinced because of her confidence that she will be accepted back to Marinoff School. Moose and his family's hopes were ruined when school refused Natalie. Desperate to help Natalie, Moose decides to take the risk with Piper's help and writes a letter to the famous Al Capone villain, who works at Alcatraz laundry. The letter asked Capone to withdraw whatever rope he had to help the Moose family get his sister back to school. Within a few days, Natalie was admitted to the new branch of Esther P. Marinoff School for the older children. The next day Moose gets ready for the day when he finds a note on his sleeve with the word "done" underlined.
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More stories
It has three sequels, Al Capone Shines My Shoes (2011) and Al Capone Does My Homework (2014) and Al Capone Throws Me a Curve (2018).
Awards
- Newbery Honor
- California Young Reader Medal
Critical reception
Kirkus Review positively commented on the book, stating "the tempo of Choldenko is very beautiful, balancing the tense family dynamics beside the school stories that are often funny and fascinating about peer pressure and friendship." Miranda Doyle of The School Library Journal says "The story, told with humor and skill, will fascinate readers with an interest in how it feels for prison guards and other workers to actually grow on the Island Alcatraz. "Ed Sullivan from Books states in his review," With unique settings and well-developed characters, this warm and exciting story has been in great demand, and Choldenko offers some interesting historical backgrounds about Alcatraz Island as a cover. "
Stage Performance
In 2011, the book was adapted as a stage show at The Children's Theater of Western Springs.
References
External links
- Author web page
- Weekly Review publishers
- Publisher webpage
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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