Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS
By Gennifer Choldenko
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2004

Al Capone does my shirts is written from the perspective of 12 year old Moose Flanagan, who moves to Alcatraz Island with his family. Alcatraz is home to the high security prison and famous gangster, Al Capone. Moose has to deal with many problems: he has a new school; he has to make new friends, and look after his sister. However, his sister Natalie gives him his greatest problem.

Natalie, Moose’s sister, has autism, which affects the brain. She is prone to tantrums and likes to play with her button box. Her mum wants her to do to the Esther P. Marinoff School, which would help her. However she is not accepted due to her age (Moose’s mum keeps Natalie at the age of 10 although she is 16). It is through Natalie that we see Moose’s caring character. Although he has to give up doing things with his friends for her, he still cares for her.

Piper is the manipulative warden’s daughter who is always scheming. In the book, she hatches a plan to make money. She gets the students at the school her and Moose go to to pay to have their clothes washed by Al Capone. This plan works, however, the warden finds out and the children involved get punished. This shows how she is persuasive, because she persuaded the other children on the Island to help even though Moose thought it was a bad idea. It also showed she was mischievous and didn’t mind breaking the rules. Piper’s first question to Moose is "What's the matter with your sister?” This shows how she doesn’t mind what people think of her. She is confident enough to ask the question.

The book is written from the point of view of Moose. He writes in the present. “He has a friendly smile.” “The girl who comes after Piper is up front now.” This makes us feel like we are there and this helps us visualise what is happening. It also makes us sympathise with the main character, Moose.

Reading Al Capone does my shirts; I felt it lacked a plot. Nothing much happens in the book, it doesn’t really have a plot. Some parts of the story were realistic. The character Moose was convincing, the way he was fed up of having to look after his sister and not being able to play baseball with his friends. However, I thought the ending was unlikely. The way Al Capone helped them and then sent a note saying “done”. All his post would have been checked, so how did he get Natalie into the school?

EL Yr9