72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book for all ages, July 26, 2004
This review is from: Al Capone Does My Shirts (Hardcover)
I can hardly believe this is considered a children's book, since it is ideal for adults who can relate to their own coming-of-age experiences. Without going into excessive detail, Gennifer Choldenko manages to portray an era, adolescence and the pain of a disabled sibling in a different time with alarming accuracy.
Moose Flanagan is a 7th grader who is tall for his age. It is 1935, right in the midst of the Great Depression. Moose's father takes a job as a prison guard on Alcatraz Island. This means the whole family, including his mom and older sister, Natalie, have to live on the island, within the shadow of the prison, in an apartment building with the families of the other guards. Moose is not happy about leaving his home and friends in Santa Monica to take up residence next to a prison. The main reason for the move is so that his older sister, Natalie, can go to a special school in San Francisco. Natalie is considered different. In modern times, she would be diagnosed as Autistic, but in 1935, Autism had not been classified. Moose adjusts to life in a strange new place, stuck with the responsibility of looking after his sister, hardly seeing his parents, and getting to know the other children on the island, including the pretty and problematic Piper, the daughter of the Warden.
I read this book in one sitting. It is very well-written, and the author clearly hasn't forgotten what it is to be a child. She portrays being the responsible sibling to a handicapped sister excellently, and I cannot recommend this book enough.
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119 of 134 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Rock, December 29, 2004
This review is from: Al Capone Does My Shirts (Hardcover)
There's historical fiction, and then there's historical fiction. Now to critique a kid's book that falls in the historical fiction genre there's really only one standard to which you should hold the book directly accountable: Do accurate historical facts about the story make the book more interesting or less interesting? Which is to say, does the story stand on its own two feet? Has this book taken true tales and given them new life or has it created an entirely fictional (some would say fanciful) world that bears little resemblance to what really did occur back in the day? I am pleased to report that Gennifer Choldenko's book, "Al Capone Does My Shirts" sits strongly in the former category. Taking true facts, following them up with historical research and footnotes, and giving the whole book a real but fascinating feel, Choldenko has written one of the great chidren's novels of 2004. The story is deeply interesting and continually gripping without boring the reader once. The premise is alluring but it's Choldenko's excellent writing that solidifies this puppy as a must-read for all ages.
Not many kids get to live on an island chock full of the world's most dangerous prisoners. But not many kids are Moose Flanagan. When his father takes a job as a guard on Alcatraz Island, just off the coast of San Francisco, Moose finds himself in alarmingly close proximity with a variety of different vicious criminals. The whole reason his father took the job, of course, is because of Moose's sister Natalie. A victim of autism, Natalie's condition isn't one that's easy to treat in 1935 America. The family has just discovered a wonderful school that might do Natalie some great good if they can only get her into it. Unfortunately, treating Natalie so that she's acceptable to the school may require her to spend copious amounts of time with Moose when he'd rather be playing baseball. And then there's that awful warden's daughter, Piper, who keeps getting Moose and his friends into trouble all the time. Things are a lot more interesting on an island prison than even Moose might have suspected.
The book does several very difficult things simultaneously. First of all, it tells the story of Moose and Natalie without appealing to the lowest common denominator. I was deathly afraid that this might turn into one of those "Beautiful Mind"/"I Am Sam"/"Shine"/any other triumph-over-adversity story you'd like to name. I was hoping against hope that this would not end up being some teary weeper with a perfect happy ending and an idealized struggle against the unknowable. Now, admittedly, the ending is (not to give anything away) pretty darn perfect. Choldenko isn't afraid of employing a little deus ex machina to get her way. On the other hand, she pulls it off. Sure, the ending's just a tad schlocky. But it's also exactly what the reader wants to hear. There are no happy endings for autistic kids in a 1935 world, but this one comes pretty darn close.
Another difficult thing the book manages is to ever-so-slightly redeem the story's resident demon from the fourth dimension of Hell, Piper. This girl is trouble, but worse she's self-centered, cruel, and cunning. Moose knows right from the start not to trust her, but she's also cute and Moose is fourteen-years-old and not entirely in charge of his hormones. I guess I spend a lot of my time reading children's books in a state of deathly fear because not only was I worried that this would be a cheesy heartwarming tale but I was also afraid that Piper would be utterly redeemed by the tale's end. And gosh darn it, I hated Piper! I hated her so much it wasn't funny. I mean, she almost gets the other kids' parents fired, she mocks Natalie (calls her "retarded" no less), she lies, tries to use Natalie as bait to get at a con, and is generally awful all over. Yet Choldenko gives her a slight improvement by the book's end. Nothing mind-blowing. Nothing miraculous. Just an ever-so-slight change from breathtaking evil to almost having a heart. And in a lesser author's hands this would've been either unbelievable or callous or both. Yet Choldenko pulls it, and many other plot points too, off with a skill I've not seen in a rising children's author in some time.
So let's review. You've got a book that is chock full of facts. I mean, the author even includes a note at the back that explains what was made up and points out which facts may have been stretched. She's so accurate that she even feels the need to point out that the weather she's listed here, "does not reflect the exact weather of 1935". Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is a writer who cares about preserving a historical record. In addition to this, the book does not pull at your heart-strings in a cheap and lazy fashion. It's honest and appealing and treats Natalie's autism brilliantly (possibly because Choldenko's own sister had a severe form of autism). Finally, it redeems the unredeemable believably. I don't know what else I can say except to point out that on top of all this the book's a very enjoyable read. It has characters you care for, real moments of tension and suspense, a brilliant setting, and a superb ear for dialogue. If you want to booktalk a new story to the kids you know, just offer them this tale about a guy who lives near gangsters and murderers. I think they'll bite.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You will like this one., December 17, 2004
This review is from: Al Capone Does My Shirts (Hardcover)
My children received this book as a gift and I decided I should read it before my 9 year old took a shot at it.
I had no idea what to expect and started without even reading the back cover. From the first page I was hooked. The writing is very well done. Its deep and meaningful but not at all self-conscious or pretentious. It hits that superb level of competence when reading becomes effortless almost as if you are watching the story unfold in real life. Still it is very accessible to grade school readers and will be a great read aloud book.
The subject matter is great for kids. Its not santized but kid appropriate. The protagonist is a young teen boy and the author really pulls off telling the story from his point of view.
A special note needs to be made that this is indeed a story told from the perspective of the younger sibling of a developmentally disabled young woman whose family is learning to deal with what we would now label autism. I found myself asking "how did the author know?" as I moved through the pages lured on by the unfolding of a story I had lived but in a much less interesting time and place.
My sister is now 38 and I am 37. I think I will keep the gift copy for myself and buy two more copies, one for each of my children. When the time is right I hope this book will help them understand why my "older sister who is younger than me" has such a special place in my life and can get away with doing things they never can.
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