Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko tells the story of a family who moves to Alcatraz Island where the father accepts a job as a prison guard. Set during the time period when Al Capone was actually incarcerated there, the story weaves facts with fiction. It is written from the perspective of Moose, the son of the family, who has a lot to deal with: a special needs sister (probably autistic, though we are never told this directly) and parents who are too busy and worried about their daughter to give him much attention. Moose isn't happy about moving to Alcatraz, but tries to make the best of it. He doesn't have much choice. He tries to make friends with the other kids who have parents working on the island. One of these is Piper, the warden's daughter. The problem with Piper is that she's always cooking up schemes that involve breaking the rules. One of her schemes almost gets Moose and his family kicked off the island. In the midst of all this, Moose has to face his parent's struggle as they try to get his sister into a special school and his mother's depression when that plan fails. As the "normal" child he carries a greater sense of responsibility than he should. Moose tries one more time to do something to help his sister, with a surprising result.

I found this book to be interesting, funny and sad all at the same time. It's interesting because it's based on facts: I never knew that families actually lived on Alcatraz Island. The fiction part was the funniest, especially when the warden's daughter comes up with the idea to get people to pay for having their shirts laundered by Al Capone (even though it is a fact that he actually did work in the prison laundry for a time). The sad part of this story was in how Moose was emotionally neglected by his parents who were over-focused on their daughter's needs (understandable, but still sad). Many young people with special needs siblings will relate and others will be able to empathize with Moose.

While the book touches on some difficult subjects, I would recommend it for 5th grade and up.

Keywords associated with this book: Alcatraz Island, Al Capone, prisons, prison guards, prisoners, autism, special needs children, special need schools.