Al Capone Does My Shirts (Tales from Alcatraz Series #1)

by Gennifer Choldenko

Overview

The Newbery Honor Book and New York Times Bestseller that is historical fiction with a hint of mystery about living at Alcatraz not as a prisoner, but as a kid meeting some of the most famous criminals in our history. Al Capone Does My Shirts has become an instant classic for all kids to read!

Today I moved to Alcatraz, a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cooks or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. And then there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to.

A Newbery Honor Book
A New York Times Bestseller
A People magazine "Best kid's Book"
An ALA Book for Young Adults
An ALA Notable Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Krikus Reviews Editor's Choice
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Parents' Choice Silver Honor Book
A New York Public Library "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing" Selection
A New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age

*"Choldenko's pacing is exquisite. . . . [A] great read."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
*"Exceptionally atmospheric, fast-paced and memorable!"—Publishers Weekly, starred review
*"The story, told with humor and skill, will fascinate readers."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Al is the perfect novel for a young guy or moll who digs books by Gordon Korman, or Louis Sachar."—Time Out New York for Kids

"Funny situations and plot twists abound!"—People magazine

"Heartstopping in some places, heartrending in others, and most of all, it is heartwarming."—San Francisco Chronicle

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142403709
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/20/2006
Series:	Tales from Alcatraz Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	23,796
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.70(d)
Lexile:	600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Gennifer Choldenko is the New York Times bestselling and Newbery Honor Award-winning author of ten children's books, including Notes From a Liar and Her Dog, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, No Passengers Beyond this Point, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Al Capone Shines My Shoes, and Al Capone Does My Homework. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Table of Contents

Part 1
1.	Devil's Island	3
2.	Errand Boy	7
3.	Trick Monkey	13
4.	American Laugh-Nosed Beet	22
5.	Murderers Darn My Socks	29
6.	Sucker	35
7.	Big for Seventh Grade	42
8.	Prison Guy Plays Ball	48
9.	Nice Little Church Boy	53
10.	Not Ready	60
11.	The Best in the Country	64
12.	What About the Electric Chair?	71
13.	One-Woman Commando Unit	80
14.	Al Capone's Baseball	87
15.	Looking for Scarface	90
16.	Capone Washed Your Shirts	98
17.	Baseball on Tuesday	103
18.	Not on My Team	106
19.	Daddy's Little Miss	109
20.	Warning	117
Part 2
21.	It Never Rains on Monday	125
22.	Al Capone's Mama	130
23.	She's not Cute	135
24.	Like a Regular Sister	140
25.	My Gap	143
26.	Convict Baseball	147
27.	Idiot	149
28.	Tall for Her Age	154
29.	Convict Choir Boy	159
30.	Eye	165
31.	My Dad	171
32.	The Button Box	174
Part 3
33.	The Sun and the Moon	179
34.	Happy Birthday	186
35.	The Truth	192
36.	Waiting	195
37.	Carrie Kelly	199
38.	What happened?	205
39.	The Warden	212
40.	Al Capone Does My Shirts	215
	Author's Note	217
	Notes	227

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Choldenko's pacing is exquisite. . . . [A] great read."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Editorial Reviews

"Choldenko's pacing is exquisite. . . . [A] great read."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

From the Publisher

Natalie's story is an important thread, sensitively handled. But what stays in the mind is the teeming mini-society of the island, where guards' families really did live and where a kid really might have encountered Al Capone, an inmate at Alcatraz from 1934 to 1939. — Elizabeth Ward

The Washington Post

In our Best Books citation, PW said of this tale set in 1935, "Choldenko captures the tense, nuanced family dynamics touched off by the narrator's sister's disability as skillfully as she handles the mystique of Alcatraz." Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 6-8-In this appealing novel set in 1935, 12-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family move from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island where his father gets a job as an electrician at the prison and his mother hopes to send his autistic older sister to a special school in San Francisco. When Natalie is rejected by the school, Moose is unable to play baseball because he must take care of her, and her unorthodox behavior sometimes lands him in hot water. He also comes to grief when he reluctantly goes along with a moneymaking scheme dreamed up by the warden's pretty but troublesome daughter. Family dilemmas are at the center of the story, but history and setting-including plenty of references to the prison's most infamous inmate, mob boss Al Capone-play an important part, too. The Flanagan family is believable in the way each member deals with Natalie and her difficulties, and Moose makes a sympathetic main character. The story, told with humor and skill, will fascinate readers with an interest in what it was like for the children of prison guards and other workers to actually grow up on Alcatraz Island.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Moose's world is turned upside down when his family moves to Alcatraz Island where his Dad has taken a job as a prison guard. Super-responsible Moose, big for 12, finds himself caught in the social interactions of this odd cut-off world. He cares for his sister who is older, yet acts much younger due to her autism and he finds his life alternating between frustration and growth. His mother focuses all of her attention on ways to cure the sister; his dad works two jobs and meekly accepts the mother's choices; his fellow island-dwellers are a funny mix of oddball characters and good friends. Basing her story on the actual experience of those who supported the prison in the '30s-when Al Capone was an inmate-Choldenko's pacing is exquisite, balancing the tense family dynamics alongside the often-humorous and riveting school story of peer pressure and friendship. Fascinating setting as a metaphor for Moose's own imprisonment and enabling some hysterically funny scenes, but a great read no matter where it takes place. (lengthy author's note with footnotes to sources) (Fiction. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews