Al Capone Does My Shirts
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Al Capone Does My Shirts (ISBN 0-439-67432-8) is a children's fiction book by Gennifer Choldenko.
This story is told from the point of view of Moose Flanagan, the 12 year old son of a prison electrican living on Alcatraz Island during the 1930's. Moose must deal with the unusual circumstances of living near infamous criminals while helping to take care of his autistic sister. Alcatraz is very new to Moose and he must figure out what is going on in his "new world".
[edit] Plot Synopsis
Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to Alcatraz Island so that his father can take a job as a elecrician and his sister Natalie can go to a special school in San Francisco. Moose misses his old baseball team, and he struggles for recognition in his new school. Then his sister Natalie, who suffers from autism, is rejected from the Esther P. Marinoff School, crushing his parents’ hopes for Natalie’s education. Now Moose must take care of Natalie after school while his mother teaches music lessons, and he must find a way to deal with Natalie’s screaming fits and constant needs. Complicating Moose’s life even more is Piper, the daughter of the prison warden. Piper lures Moose into her scheme to make money by collecting laundry from their classmates with the promise that Al Capone is among the convicts assigned to laundry duty on Alcatraz. Gradually Moose adjusts to life on Alcatraz, even finding ways to help Natalie fit in with the other children on the island, and he is able to convince his mother that he really does have his sister’s best interests in mind. After the Flanagans have tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to enroll Natalie in the Esther P. Marinoff School, Moose secretly writes a note to Al Capone, asking him to help Natalie. Piper slips Moose’s note into the pile of sorted mail, and a few weeks later Natalie is accepted to a brand-new school for older autistic children, to the delight of the entire Flanagan family- especially when Moose receives a note in his coat pocket.
