Al Capone does My Shirts

           Al Capone Does My Shirts 

              Gennifer Choldenko 

          "No sir. I'm serious. He's the only one that can do this." 

Al Capone does my shirts is a heart warming story, that focuses on life for a young boy in the 1930's. Moose Flanagan has had to leave his home, friends and what seems like his life, to move to a small island called Alcatraz - home to a high security prison and to the famous gangster Al Capone. This book focuses on what life is like on Alcatraz, with all the rules and restrictions that they have to abide by for their own safety. Moose's sister Natalie, is disabled, so his parents focus all their attention on her, and have no time to listen to his views or concerns. Along the way, Moose makes friends with the troublesome Piper, the warden's daughter, who comes up with a plan to make money out of the convicts. She planned to wash her class mates clothes, but tell them that the famous convicts like Machine Gun Kelly were washing them, and then charge them extra for it. Moose watched guiltily as his own gullible friends said 'Al Capone washed my shirts!'  Moose came across to me as a brave, bold, protective character and he stands up for what he believes in, and won't stop until he gets his message across. When Natalie didn't pass her interview for her school The Esther P. Marinoff, both Moose's parents were completely out of faith and didn't even acknowledge his existence. I felt sorry for him, but even at though his family was slowly falling apart, he still stayed strong and in the end managed to put it back together. I admire Gennifer Choldenko's work, and hope to read another one of her books in the future. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, because you also learn some interesting facts about Al Capone and Alcatraz, as well as reading a wonderfully moving and realistic book.

           I would rate this book: 4/5 stars!