Al Capone Does My Shirts

Rating:
Summary: Al Capone does my Shirts
Review: Al Capone Does my Shirts is about a boy and his family who live on Alctraz Island, which sits in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The story takes place in the 1930's and the story gets its name from a scandle pulled off by the warden's daughter, Piper. The sister of the main charater has a mental disease which makes her very strange. Several families also live on the island and their fathers are mostly guards, cooks, doctors, or electrians.
Moose and the other kids go to school on the island. They also play baseball every Monday. The kids make money by saying that Al Capone will do your laundry. Al Capone even helps Moose's sister by using a secret way of writing.
I like the book because there is adventure and ideas I could use. I also liked the suspence of something that could go wrong. I didn't like that the time period was old.
Overall, this was a good book and I think more people should read it.

Rating:
Summary: "Al Capone Does My Shirts"
Review: "Al Capone Does My Shirts" is about a 12-year old boy named Moose, whose family moves to Alcatraz in 1934 for his dad's job as a prison guard there. If you don't know, Alcatraz is a maximum-security prison on a rocky island across the bay from San Francisco. Although it is no longer in use, in the 1930's, Alcatraz was prison sweet prison to such notorious gangsters as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. You could understand why Moose isn't excatly thrilled to live there. But the other reason they moved is so his sister, Natalie, could go to the Esther P. Marinoff school. Natalie has a disease that is today called autism, but was unidentified in the 30's. Moose, wanting his sister to be "normal", agrees to move for her sake. Still, he isn't happy about living on what he calls "a 12-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turds and surrounded by water". But the other families that live on Alcatraz might change his mind.
This book is both funny and sad, and Moose is very easy to relate to. Other very dynamic characters make "Al Capone Does My Shirts" interesting. You'll finish it quickly and wish it were longer.

Rating:
Summary: A MIGHTY FORTRESS & THE POWER OF LOVE!
Review: Author Sid Fleischman calls Gennifer Choldenko's book "a taut drama" and "a marvel" . . . YES! . . . It will really grab you. Even halfway across the country, & seventy years after the story unfolds, Alcatraz holds a fascination for many. A friend who lived in Al Capone's Chicago "neighborhood" would have loved this book; her stories about seeing him there made me aware of a Capone charisma.

Please read *AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS* . . . ASAP! . . . then share your reactions on amazon.com! Some of you have had experience with autistic children. I have never known anyone with this sensory disorder, yet recently I have been deeply affected - - first, by an NPR interview of Temple Grandin (who figures in Choldenko's generous footnotes), and now by reading this story about "Moose" Flanagan & his sister Natalie, growing up in the *extraordinary!* surroundings on Alcatraz Island with the families of other workers & guards. Moose is the brother who always tries to be good, especially to an older sister trapped in a disorder that in the mid-thirties was not even named. To get her placed in a special school motivated the family's move to San Francisco, and each family member tries in different ways to cope with the young girl's abnormal behavior, as well as the stresses of the 'Great Depression'.

Dependent on a ferry, the Alcatraz kids attended school on the mainland where they achieved a certain status by stretching the truth with stories of the convicts. Gennifer Choldenko draws each of her characters as tho' they were plucked straight out of OUR memories. Mrs. Flanagan cries for our sympathy as she agonizes for the child whose strangeness makes 'normal' family life impossible. Mama Capone figures in the story . . . and also the warden's cute daughter, Piper, who is adept at provoking mischief and bending her father's rules. I love footnotes the way poor Natalie dotes on indexes, and found quite moving the author's sensitivity in describing the hypnotic hold that words, numbers & objects like buttons had on the autistic child.

The story packs a wallop with humor, pathos, sweet understanding, the conniving of kids, and the family's struggles with wide-ranging emotions. Hurrah for books that appeal to boys . . . AND to girls & adults of all ages. No wonder the Newbery judges latched onto it ... & I'll bet they wavered when deciding on the medal winner! The author's notes are fascinating, & her story profited from her year as docent on the island (now a tourist attraction). We learn that there have been "Alumni Days" for those who once lived at Alcatraz as children! Read the last footnote & sense the hope that buoys scientists after years of working with autistic youngsters.

REVIEWER mcHAIKU wishes we could discuss 'into the night' this brilliant story. It will give (even to those from idyllic childhoods) some new insights into growing-up years. It may take awhile but this book will hit you with its significance, and IT WILL STAY WITH YOU, promises this Swami-Reviewer.


Rating:
Summary: Baseball, Capone and a Great Kid on Alcatraz
Review: Choldenko weaves Bay Area history, baseball, the legend of Al Capone, and a satisfying family story into a winning YA novel. Moose Flanagan moves with his family to Alcatraz. In the depression-era 30's Dad is happy to have a job as a guard and electrician, but the move is really motivated by a desire to place Moose's autistic sister, Natalie, into a special San Francisco school. Moose is Natalie's care giver and champion and in spite of her illness, the two of them form friendships in the tight knit Alcatraz community. The best part of the story revolves around Moose's growing understanding of what family choices will mean for Natalie's future. Guided by his affection for Natalie and his own need for some kind of normal life, Moose helps his parents come to terms with their situation and find a future for Natalie. Moose is very wise for a teenager, but his behavior and emotions always ring true. The role Capone plays is small, but his legend looms large in the book and adds both mystery and humor. Choldenko spent several years as a docent on Alcatraz and her knowledge of the island and the prison it housed add significantly to the books authenticity.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read Aloud!
Review: I am reading this aloud to my students and they love it! I first read it this summer and decided to make it my first read aloud. The dialogue is very real; a rarity it seems in so many young adult books. Additionally, the chapters are fairly short, which makes it ideal for reading aloud, and also for reluctant readers.

The subject matter (Alcatraz/teenage boys) is also appealing to all kinds of readers.

Rating:
Summary: Wow.....I LOVE this book!
Review: I had reservations after the first few pages, mentions of inmates and rapists and crappers, as I was hoping to review this book for my 5th-grade class. But, Moose's tale of survival and family love and sacrifice on Alcatraz becomes a beautiful tale. The chapter "Eye" alone is worth reading many times. The topic of autism was masterfully handled. I haven't read Kira Kira, but I can't imagine it's any more passionate and absorbing than this wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: It is rare to find a book equally appealing to middle-school boys as well as to girls, but this author has succeeded in doing so with AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS. The fascinating look at the history of families who lived on Alcatraz, as well as the warm family tale interwoven into that history, made this an unforgettable read for me. Not only that, but the author did a fine job of representing autism, and the various *out there* treatments available in the 1930's.
Somehow, she also works a believable, yet suspenseful, sense of adventure, and understanding of pre-teen feelings, and a knowledge of *baseball* into her work!
The sub-themes of spoiled rich kids, parents blinded by their own tendencies to dote--and there is more than one such parent represented in this story!--the scheming that pre-teens can and do manage--these all add to the richness of the reading experience.
Get this book for your pre-teen--better yet, read it yourself. I am far from my middle-school years, and this is one of the best books I have read this summer.

Rating:
Summary: Every 10-12 year old should read this book
Review: My 10 year old daughter read this book in just over 2 days! She could not put it down!!! After reading Choldenko's "Notes from a Liar and her Dog" she could not wait for this to be published. We are buying them as gifts for many summer birthdays. I am now reading it and am thrown right back into my childhood of many years ago. Well written (as was the first), gets right into a 10-12 year olds way of thinking. Children between these ages will be able to totally relate. We can't wait for next one!

Rating:
Summary: You will like this one.
Review: My children received this book as a gift and I decided I should read it before my 9 year old took a shot at it.

I had no idea what to expect and started without even reading the back cover. From the first page I was hooked. The writing is very well done. Its deep and meaningful but not at all self-conscious or pretentious. It hits that superb level of competence when reading becomes effortless almost as if you are watching the story unfold in real life. Still it is very accessible to grade school readers and will be a great read aloud book.

The subject matter is great for kids. Its not santized but kid appropriate. The protagonist is a young teen boy and the author really pulls off telling the story from his point of view.

A special note needs to be made that this is indeed a story told from the perspective of the younger sibling of a developmentally disabled young woman whose family is learning to deal with what we would now label autism. I found myself asking "how did the author know?" as I moved through the pages lured on by the unfolding of a story I had lived but in a much less interesting time and place.

My sister is now 38 and I am 37. I think I will keep the gift copy for myself and buy two more copies, one for each of my children. When the time is right I hope this book will help them understand why my "older sister who is younger than me" has such a special place in my life and can get away with doing things they never can.




Rating:
Summary: The Rock
Review: There's historical fiction, and then there's historical fiction. Now to critique a kid's book that falls in the historical fiction genre there's really only one standard to which you should hold the book directly accountable: Do accurate historical facts about the story make the book more interesting or less interesting? Which is to say, does the story stand on its own two feet? Has this book taken true tales and given them new life or has it created an entirely fictional (some would say fanciful) world that bears little resemblance to what really did occur back in the day? I am pleased to report that Gennifer Choldenko's book, "Al Capone Does My Shirts" sits strongly in the former category. Taking true facts, following them up with historical research and footnotes, and giving the whole book a real but fascinating feel, Choldenko has written one of the great chidren's novels of 2004. The story is deeply interesting and continually gripping without boring the reader once. The premise is alluring but it's Choldenko's excellent writing that solidifies this puppy as a must-read for all ages.

Not many kids get to live on an island chock full of the world's most dangerous prisoners. But not many kids are Moose Flanagan. When his father takes a job as a guard on Alcatraz Island, just off the coast of San Francisco, Moose finds himself in alarmingly close proximity with a variety of different vicious criminals. The whole reason his father took the job, of course, is because of Moose's sister Natalie. A victim of autism, Natalie's condition isn't one that's easy to treat in 1935 America. The family has just discovered a wonderful school that might do Natalie some great good if they can only get her into it. Unfortunately, treating Natalie so that she's acceptable to the school may require her to spend copious amounts of time with Moose when he'd rather be playing baseball. And then there's that awful warden's daughter, Piper, who keeps getting Moose and his friends into trouble all the time. Things are a lot more interesting on an island prison than even Moose might have suspected.

The book does several very difficult things simultaneously. First of all, it tells the story of Moose and Natalie without appealing to the lowest common denominator. I was deathly afraid that this might turn into one of those "Beautiful Mind"/"I Am Sam"/"Shine"/any other triumph-over-adversity story you'd like to name. I was hoping against hope that this would not end up being some teary weeper with a perfect happy ending and an idealized struggle against the unknowable. Now, admittedly, the ending is (not to give anything away) pretty darn perfect. Choldenko isn't afraid of employing a little deus ex machina to get her way. On the other hand, she pulls it off. Sure, the ending's just a tad schlocky. But it's also exactly what the reader wants to hear. There are no happy endings for autistic kids in a 1935 world, but this one comes pretty darn close.

Another difficult thing the book manages is to ever-so-slightly redeem the story's resident demon from the fourth dimension of Hell, Piper. This girl is trouble, but worse she's self-centered, cruel, and cunning. Moose knows right from the start not to trust her, but she's also cute and Moose is fourteen-years-old and not entirely in charge of his hormones. I guess I spend a lot of my time reading children's books in a state of deathly fear because not only was I worried that this would be a cheesy heartwarming tale but I was also afraid that Piper would be utterly redeemed by the tale's end. And gosh darn it, I hated Piper! I hated her so much it wasn't funny. I mean, she almost gets the other kids' parents fired, she mocks Natalie (calls her "retarded" no less), she lies, tries to use Natalie as bait to get at a con, and is generally awful all over. Yet Choldenko gives her a slight improvement by the book's end. Nothing mind-blowing. Nothing miraculous. Just an ever-so-slight change from breathtaking evil to almost having a heart. And in a lesser author's hands this would've been either unbelievable or callous or both. Yet Choldenko pulls it, and many other plot points too, off with a skill I've not seen in a rising children's author in some time.

So let's review. You've got a book that is chock full of facts. I mean, the author even includes a note at the back that explains what was made up and points out which facts may have been stretched. She's so accurate that she even feels the need to point out that the weather she's listed here, "does not reflect the exact weather of 1935". Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is a writer who cares about preserving a historical record. In addition to this, the book does not pull at your heart-strings in a cheap and lazy fashion. It's honest and appealing and treats Natalie's autism brilliantly (possibly because Choldenko's own sister had a severe form of autism). Finally, it redeems the unredeemable believably. I don't know what else I can say except to point out that on top of all this the book's a very enjoyable read. It has characters you care for, real moments of tension and suspense, a brilliant setting, and a superb ear for dialogue. If you want to booktalk a new story to the kids you know, just offer them this tale about a guy who lives near gangsters and murderers. I think they'll bite.