Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko, is about a family who moves to Alcatraz Prison in the 1930's where Moose's father has a new job as an electrician and prison guard. All Moose wants to do is stay after school to play baseball and feel normal again. But, that isn't possible now that mom has gotten a job in San Francisco and Moose has to "babysit" his older autistic sister, Natalie. But, Moose comes up with a plan that might help Natalie get into the Esther P. Marinoff School with the help of Al Capone.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Moose and the other characters are well developed. Moose's mother, for example, tries so hard to convince herself that Natalie can be helped at the Esther P. Marinoff School they are trying to get her into, your heart aches for her, but you also want to scream at her wake up to the reality of Natalie's autism and move on to what is best for the family.
What I didn't like about the book was I wanted more details sometimes. The incident with Natalie and the inmate was too vague. I did not get a satisfying conclusion to what happened between her and the mysterious man.
No comments:
Post a Comment