Fabulous Finds: Al Capone Does My Shirts

About three years ago, my university professor mentioned this book during class. She said it was a great book and that she enjoyed it very much. I remember jotting the title down and not thinking much more about it. Later, I remember coming across the cover page on Amazon.com and thinking, "Really? That doesn't really seem like something I would like." So I dismissed the book entirely based solely on the title and the cover page. See below:

At the time, I didn't like stories about gangsters. I wasn't into the historical fiction genre. I didn't care what was going on in Alcatraz. Last year, I came across this very same book at a garage sale for $.50 and figured it was at least worth that.
With all that being said, I have the priviledge of having that same professor this summer in my Masters course. In the list of YA books for us to choose from to read and review was the above title. I picked through my personal library and found it. You know what I found? It's captivating and really interesting.

This is the book description from Amazon.com:

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Today I moved to 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's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, 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.

 

The following is my review:

 

This book was truly fabulous! It's not at all what I was expecting. It is a historical fiction tale set in the 1930s about a 7th grade boy named Moose who lives on Alcatraz Island with his family. He's not thrilled about the move but knows deep down that it is the best chance his older sister, Natalie (who has undiagnosed autism) has at attending a school designed to help her. Over time, Moose meets other kids on the island, gets into a little bit of trouble without intending to, and develops a closer relationship with his sister. Now while this book covers an adolescent coming of age, historical events, and details about a disability unknown at that time, the relationship between Moose and Natalie is what really carries the story in my opinion.

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone around 5th grade and older. My third graders may find it a little hard to get into. In addition, a possible lesson could include a Alcatraz project to go with the book.

Happy Reading!
-CM (reading "The Giver" by L. Lowry)