Al Capone Shines My Shoes

August 17, 2009
Choldenko's follow-up to her Newbery Honor novel Al Capone Does My Shirts
picks up where the first volume ended. It's August 1935 and 12-year-old narrator Moose Flanagan's autistic sister, Natalie, is headed to a boarding school for special needs children, promising an easier life for him and his parents (“We've been three people and an octopus all of my life, and now the octopus is gone”). But since Natalie's enrollment was secretly engineered by the prison's most notorious inmate, it's an ominous development when Moose finds a note in his laundry that reads “Your turn,” written in Capone's script. It takes another 100 pages for the tension to ratchet up, but fans of the first book will enjoy getting reacquainted; Piper, the warden's manipulative daughter, and Darby Trixle, a noxious guard, provide lots of conflict for good-natured Moose. The hourly count bell, carping gulls and rumble of the fog horn form a soundtrack that Moose calls “the ticking of our own island clock.” Ages 10–up.

Starred review from September 1, 2009
Gr 6-8-Readers who enjoyed "Al Capone Does My Shirts" (Putnam, 2004) will find this lively novel a worthy sequel. Most of the large cast has returned and, as in the previous book, the 1935 Alcatraz Island setting is well realized through glimpses of its infamous prison, inmates, and island life. The narrator is Moose Flanagan, whose father works as a prison guard. The 12-year-old baseball-loving boy is both naive and wise beyond his years. He loves Natalie, his developmentally disabled older sister, despite her unpredictable behavior; when she has good days, he says, "it feels as if the sun has come out after sixty straight days of rain." Along with the warm family drama, there's the intrigue that comes of living among notorious prison inmates on a tiny island. They are a source of free labor, and, once again, Moose finds terse messages in his laundry. Apparently inmate #85, aka Al Capone, engineered Natalie's acceptance into a special school at the boy's request, and now Moose receives a note saying, "Your turn." How he responds to this menacing correspondence makes for an involving yarn, and Choldenko layers her narrative with comical and poignant plot twists. At times, her canvas feels crowded with less-involving characters and subplots, but her sprightly writing ensures that this novel never loses its grip on readers' imaginations. This is superlative historical fiction, but it will be most appreciated by those familiar with the first book."Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Grades 5-8 In the Newbery Honor-winning Al Capone Does My Shirts (2004), 12-year-old Moose Flanagan, who lives on Alcatraz in 1935, appeals to inmate 85 to get his autistic sister, Natalie, into a special school. In this follow-up, its payback time. Scarface, whom Moose finally meets, is much more present here, and it turns out that Natalies benefactor (the famous gangster) wasnt just being a nice guy when he offered his help. He expected favors in return, and now, Natalie is an unsuspecting, potential accomplice in a dramatic prisoner escape attempt. One of Choldenkos many strengths is her grasp of the historically accurate language and setting, and she discusses where she exercised her artistic license in an authors note. As life on the Rock goes on, Moose gradually realizes that family and friends are more important than baseball and that grudges rarely come to a good end. An enjoyable, stand-alone sequel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)