Book Reviews of 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.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction book. I think the level it is best suited for is middle school students and older as that writing is too advanced for younger students. I liked how the author fictionalized some aspects of the book to make it interesting. All the characters had very different personalities. But the author was still able to keep the book historically accurate about living at Alcatraz and having a sibling with autism. A nice touch is at the end of the book where the author tells where she got the information from the book and what parts are fact and fiction. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

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