Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a Newberry Honor book.

Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to Alcatraz island. The year is 1935 and his father has taken a job as guard and electrician at the prison. The move was to be close to a school in San Fransisco that Moose's parents want his sister Natalie to attend. Natalie has Down's Syndrome. The usually treatment was to lock up Down's kids. The Flanagans refuse to do that.

Although Moose is the younger brother, his role is of an older brother. He goes from a boy who only cares about baseball, to his sister's best friend. He watches her after school each day while his mother goes into SF to teach piano lessons.

The setting of this novel adds to the flavor of the children in the story. The warden's daughter is obsessed with meeting Al Capone. None of the other inmates are nearly as exciting. Of course, none of the families of the guards get to meet inmates. The closest they get is having their clothes washed in the prison laundry or eating a dinner prepared by inmates.

Choldenko, Gennifer. (2004). Al Capone Does My Shirts. New York: Puffin.