Al Capone Does My Shirts (Newbery #2)

Al Capone Does My Shirts was an excellent read!  This book, written by Gennifer Choldenko was a Newbery Honor book.  The premise of the book is that Matthew Flanagan (called Moose) and his family move to Alcatraz where his father works as an electrician and guard.  At the time Moose and his family are living on the island (1935), Al Capone is also being housed in the prison on Alcatraz.  Moose's sister, Natalie, has autism and a lot of the book deals with how they and society viewed children with autism at that time.  The warden's daughter, Piper, cooks up a scheme to make money by adding the laundry of other children at school to their own laundry which was watched by the convicts.

I had so many strong emotions as I was reading this book.  I hated Piper; she was rude, self centered, and spoiled and it made me so mad that she called Natalie stupid and retarded.  I also didn't like Moose and Natalie's mom.  I'm sure a lot of her behavior and denial stemmed from the fact that she just didn't know what to do with Natalie and that she was trying to help her but it made me so mad that she forced so much responsibility on Moose and tried to force Natalie to live like a "normal"person.  Even though Moose sometimes got frustrated with Natalie, he was so caring and understanding with her and you could tell that he really loved her and just wanted her to be happy.  I think that Al Capone Does My Shirts hit the nail on the head when portraying life with an autistic family member.  I read in the author's notes that Gennifer Choldenko's sister had autism and inspired the character of Natalie.  Moose was a character you just wanted to root for - he wanted so badly to do what was right, follow the rules, and have friends.  Theresa, a seven year old who befriends Moose and Natalie, was another one of my favorite characters who is funny and caring and who seems to understand Natalie better than anyone else.

The book also does a good job of showing what life on Alcatraz was like.  For me, Alcatraz has always been something that was talked about in passing but never really taught about in school.  Al Capone Does My Shirts teaches about Alcatraz through the use of a fun story.   Since the story was set in 1935 there are also some small things that refer to that time period such as the language, terminology, and school structures.  I think that reading this book provides a history lesson within a good novel.  In that vein, I think this book is definitely for middle school age students.  Younger children probably will miss the history lesson plus there are a few hints of mature topics in the story.  I would definitely recommend this book to my friends!