Monday, March 19, 2007

Al Capone Does My Shirts

When I picked up this book in the library, I wasn’t entirely sure what it was going to be about. I didn’t know a lot about Al Capone or Alcatraz, but I found myself completely absorbed in this book. I thought about it whenever I put it down, reluctantly at that. I finished the book over spring break while camping in Great Smoky Mountain National Park (yeah, I’m that girl who will take a book anywhere) and I was so excited about it that my boyfriend finally said “ok, tell me about it”.

One of the most interesting parts of the book, though, was the explanation at the end. Gennifer Choldenko did a wonderful job of incorporating so many small facts in her fictionalized story that the Author’s Note was really a ‘behind the scenes’ look at Alcatraz around 1935. I have no real prior knowledge about Alcatraz, but I did remind myself that this was during the Great Depression, which comes through a little bit with the characters and any discussion of money. The warden’s daughter tries to manipulate everyone she can, taking advantage of her position as the warden’s daughter. At one point, she enlists the help of the other kids on the island to conspire in her laundry scheme, in which she and Moose convince kids at school (not on Alcatraz) to send their shirts home with them for a nickel-a-piece so they can be laundered by convicts, particularly Al Capone. Choldenko did a great job of capturing the innocence, naïveté, but also intelligence of these children.

The main character, Moose Flanagan, is tall for his age (10) and has a sister, Natalie. Though Natalie is 15, her mother tells everyone that she is 10, year after year. Natalie actually has severe autism, but this was in a time before autism was officially named. In her note, Choldenko mentions that the character of Natalie “is not meant to symbolize or represent autism in any way”, though she also describes some characteristics of autism and how they fit into Natalie’s character. She was actually modeled after Choldenko’s sister, who had autism.

Over the summer I saw a 5th grader reading this book, and though he couldn’t really talk about it much, he really seemed to enjoy it. There are many kid-characters that young readers can identify with. Though it’s a story about the kids on the island of Alcatraz, the heart of the story centers on Moose’s family, particularly their relationship with Natalie and the challenges they have as a family trying to get help for her while being supportive of each other. At many points in the story, Moose resents Natalie and being responsible for her, but of his entire family, his relationship with Natalie might just be the strongest. Moose’s love for his sister gives him determination and a strong will that leads him to ask for help in unlikely places. I would recommend this book to anyone, specifically for readers of historical fiction.

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