Al Capone Does My Shirts

On January 4, 1935, Matthew "Moose" Flanagan and family leave the comforts of Santa Monica for life on Alactraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Moose's 15-year-old sister Nat has severe autism (the term autism was not coined until 1943) and her behavior fits the classic profile of Kanner's, or classic/infantile autism. She is preoccupied with her button collection; she counts objects and creatures in her environment and has memorized page numbers in book indices and tables of contents. Devoted to routine, she has meltdowns when unexpected changes are introduced. Her speech is primarily echolalic. She also has a flair for numbers.

Their father accepted a job as an electrician and sometime guard at the infamous prison and their mother keeps insisting Nat is 10 so as to stave off the encroachment of time. The rationale for this is to ensure the girl a place in a special school that has recently opened in San Francisco.

Moose, despite his challenges on the home front appears to have adjusted well. He takes the daily ferry with the other children who live on the island to the public school in the city. An avid baseball enthusiast, Moose falls in with a group of boys who love the sport as much as he does.

Moose's second biggest problem after minding his older sister is the warden's daughter, Piper. A sneaky snitch, she has a bizarre attraction to notoriety and will do just about anything to meet Al Capone, notorious gangster and probably the most infamous prisoner in Alcatraz. She hatches a scheme to have the prisoners launder her classmates' clothing; the catch here is that she sells this service as "having your clothes washed by Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly." She alternately bribes and blackmails Moose to help her launch these schemes; she even uses his sister as part of her underhanded conniving plots.

Despite some rather funny, touching and serious issues and set backs, Moose soldiers on, surviving Piper and the aura among his "city" classmates of living on the island once known as The Rock. He and other kids look for baseballs the cons have hit over their highly enclosed baseball diamond as these baseballs carry the "aura" of having been a part of a prison game.

This brilliantly written book is historically accurate and I like the way this author cleverly included Al Capone's mother in the story. This was done so naturally and so plausibly that readers don't even question this. Choldenko also includes a bibliography replete with notes about Alcatraz Island, citing sources and explaining where history "meets" fiction. She is a master at historical fiction and this is a truly exceptional work. I found the early treatments for people with severe autism interesting and the descriptions of the woefully inadequate provisions that were made for people in need of services, especially during the Depression.

A truly, brilliant work. I can't recommend it highly enough and I will certainly recommend this author to the local elementary and middle schools.

On January 4, 1935, Matthew "Moose" Flanagan and family leave the comforts of Santa Monica for life on Alactraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Moose's 15-year-old sister Nat has severe autism (the term autism was not coined until 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner) and her behavior fits the classic profile of Kanner's, or classic/infantile autism. She is preoccupied with her button collection; she counts objects and creatures in her environment and has memorized page numbers in book indices and tables of contents. Devoted to routine, she has meltdowns when unexpected changes are introduced. Her speech is primarily echolalic. She also has a flair for numbers.

Their father accepted a job as an electrician and sometime guard at the infamous prison and their mother keeps insisting Nat is 10 so as to stave off the encroachment of time. The rationale for this is to ensure the girl a place in a special school that has recently opened in San Francisco.

Moose, despite his challenges on the home front appears to have adjusted well. He takes the daily ferry with the other children who live on the island to the public school in the city. An avid baseball enthusiast, Moose falls in with a group of boys who love the sport as much as he does.

Moose's second biggest problem after minding his older sister is the warden's daughter, Piper. A sneaky snitch, she has a bizarre attraction to notoriety and will do just about anything to meet Al Capone, notorious gangster and probably the most infamous prisoner in Alcatraz. She hatches a scheme to have the prisoners launder her classmates' clothing; the catch here is that she sells this service as "having your clothes washed by Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly." She alternately bribes and blackmails Moose to help her launch these schemes; she even uses his sister as part of her underhanded conniving plots.

Despite some rather funny, touching and serious issues and set backs, Moose soldiers on, surviving Piper and the aura among his "city" classmates of living on the island once known as The Rock. He and other kids look for baseballs the cons have hit over their highly enclosed baseball diamond as these baseballs carry the "aura" of having been a part of a prison game.

This brilliantly written book is historically accurate and I like the way this author cleverly included Al Capone's mother in the story. This was done so naturally and so plausibly that readers don't even question this. Choldenko also includes a bibliography replete with notes about Alcatraz Island, citing sources and explaining where history "meets" fiction. I found the early treatments for people with severe autism interesting and the descriptions of the woefully inadequate provisions that were made for people in need of services, especially during the Depression.

A truly, brilliant work. I can't recommend it highly enough and I will certainly recommend this author to the local elementary and middle schools. Be sure to watch for any books by Choldenko!