Search - Al Capone Does My Shirts

A wonderful book, filled with tidbits of historical accuracies. this story is about a time in one boy's life, during which he was living on Alcatraz and attending school in San Francisco. Most of the story revolves around his internal conflicts with wanting to live a normal life, in a normal neighborhood, with a normal family, while having to make due with the reality of living on Alcatraz Island with some of that period's most infamous criminals, having a father who is a prison guard and caring for an autistic sister in the 1930s, when autism was still treated like a personal choice. Wonderful writing - written for young readers, but enjoyable for adults as well.

This was a nominated book for the Georgia Book awards in 2006, and rightfully so. The characters are believable, and the setting is very important to the story's plot. I had been to San Francisco not long before I read this book, and it was fun imagining how it may have been for a young boy and his family to live on Alcatraz. This is a good book for 4th - 7th graders to read to experience the trials of another child their age.

My son was reading this book and I picked it up to see what it was about. Big mistake because for the remainder of the day I was caught up it!! The main character and his home life is so believeable. The way the family copes with the Natalie's situation is also very telling for that time in history. It was clear reading the book that Natalie was autistic but for the time period of the book any mental disability was labeled "retarded." Moose was torn with wanting to be a regular kid and having to step up and help with his not so regular sister. The characters are well developed and the story very well written. While the ending seemed a bit far fetched it was absolutely feel good! I would recommend this book for any middle school child.