Choldenko's Al Capone Series--the last two installments of the trilogy! Not just for kids!!

I was lucky enough to purchase all three of the books in Choldenko's Al Capone series at the library book sale! I have read and reviewed the first book, Al Capone Does My Shirts: A Novel, and loved it so much, I want to share my thoughts about and reactions to the other two installments in this trilogy as well. Besides, my grandson, to whom I will gift these books, is preparing to move with his family over 1,700 miles away soon and I want him to leave with these in hand!

Yep! Mine looks
just like this! 

Ms. Choldenko replied to my email message containing the link to my blog post, asking me if I would care to read and review an advance copy of her newest book, Chasing Secrets, due to be released August 4, 2015! And...offered to send me a copy! Now, let's consider: (1) I am an "avid" reader (Some might say 'obsessive,' but they would be wrong!), (2) I love to share my impressions to what I've read via blog posts, and (3) I value nothing as highly as getting to know the authors whose work I truly admire. Of course my immediate response was--I would be more than happy to read and review this book prior to its release!! And thank you!! :) (Happy dance time for sure!) This is one of the things I miss most about working at Borders, after all: free books and many of them ARCs received prior to release! But I promised myself that I would not begin reading that book until I had completed a blog post about these two... :) (I bargain with myself in this way quite often!)

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko

The second book in this series finds Moose with more worries than before, wondering exactly what Mr. Capone might require as payment for making Natalie's admission to the Esther P. Marinoff School happen...for the second time! On the morning of the big occasion of Natalie's return to school, 

Nat's mouth puckers to one side. "Moose school. Natalie home," she says. 

  "Not today," my mother says brightly. "Today is your big day. Today you're going to school." 

  "Not today," Nat tells her. "Not today. Not today."

  I can't help smiling at this. Natalie likes to repeat what you say and here she's repeating my mom's exact words with a change of inflection that makes them say what Natalie wants them to say and not at all what my mother meant. I love when Natalie outsmarts Mom this way. Sometimes Nat is smarter than we are. Other times she doesn't understand the first thing about anything. That's the trouble with Natalie--you never know which way she'll go. (5)

Remember, Moose's older sister, Natalie, exhibits behaviors and symptoms of what would have probably been diagnosed as autism decades later. Daily life for Moose is quite different with Nat at school:
  I can't remember the last time my mom made me breakfast.
  I hate to admit it but it's nice having my mother to myself this way. We've been three people and an octopus all my life, and now the octopus is gone. It's not Natalie that's missing so much as the hubbub around her. The wild-goose chase of what to do and how to help her--one heartbreak chasing another. 
  What's left now is just my mother and me. How strange this is. How quiet. (55)
I do believe life can be just as different for "normal"/healthy siblings as for those displaying symptoms of autism, Asperger's, and the like. 

  At the table, she sits with me while I eat, as if she has nothing better to do. "You're a good son, Moose," she says as I help myself to another pancake. "A good brother too. Don't think I haven't noticed." 
  ...This is not how my mother usually behaves. She doesn't notice me except in relation to Natalie. 
  "I wonder if you'll forgive me," she says in a voice barely audible. 
  "For what?" I manage to say. 
  Again her eyes search my face. "For being so wrapped up with Natalie," she whispers.
  I stuff my mouth full of more pancake to push the unexpected feelings down. (56)
Awwww...having a 'special' child puts added strain and tension on the family members, though I believe that overall, the siblings benefit from learning hands-on about respect and willingness to accept and help others.

There is more interplay among the Alcatraz kids and Scout, especially with regard to adolescent hormones and who likes who. :) And the way Moose delivers roses is hysterical! As they say, whatever could go wrong, did! Although we gain additional insight into Trixle's personal life, it only solidifies our feeling that he is mean, with no compassion toward others. :(

Annie and Moose are 'having it out' regarding Capone's expectation of payback when Moose finally whispers,

"So are we going to play ball."

  Annie rolls her eyes. "Jeepers, Moose. Something like this happens and all you can think about is baseball?"

  "Yeah,...It is." 

This passage rang so true of an adolescent male! I had to laugh!

Call it paranoia, but Moose wonders if the scratchy shirt that gave him hives, the constant plumbing problems in his apartment, and some of the comments made to him directly by Buddy Boy and Willy One Arm (who keeps Molly in his shirt pocket except when she's balanced on top of his head), aren't all part of a master plan... And then the kids all work together, each contributing to prevent a disaster... 
  Life is complicated. You'd think on a prison island--what with the bars and rules and everything--it would all be so clear...but it's not. (256) 
Have you ever done something wrong for the right reason? 

     Al Capone Does My Homework by Gennifer Choldenko

It's tougher than you might think... 
  No one believes I live on Alcatraz. Even my eighth-grade history teacher made me write on the chalkboard I do not live on Alcatraz two hundred times. 
  My mother couldn't buy stockings... They wouldn't take her check, on account of it said: Helen Flanagan, Alcatraz Island, California. My father had trouble getting his driver's license. They thought he was an escaped prisoner too stupid to fake his address, instead of an officer at the most notorious prison in North America. (1)

This is the first day that Moose's father assumes his new job as Associate Warden at the famous Alcatraz prison. Moose is worried, believing his "dad is too nice to be a warden." Especially once he learns about the 'points system' maintained by the cons...killing a warden earns the most points possible, even just injuring one is worth a lot! 

Fire breaks out in the apartment where Moose and his family live and the Trixle's are determined to blame it all on Natalie, to get her and her family off the island. Moose muses,
  Out the window, a sailboat rips across the bay with a big tan guy holding the tiller. The lives of people like that seem so easy. My life is never like that. (40)
Isn't it the truth? Don't we all feel like that on occasion? As if others live such an idyllic life...while ours is anything but?!? Though if we knew that person well enough, we would be aware of the challenges he must surmount in his own life...no one has a 'perfect' life though it may appear to be so from a distance. 

It is after the fire, Moose is back in his family's apartment looking for items that can be salvaged, when he discovers the blue homework notebook that he thought was lost. With relief, he realizes he won't have to rewrite his school essay after all.
  That's strange. How could I have missed it before?...I won't have to do the paper again! Doing your homework twice is like puking, the having to eat your own vomit. (83)
Ugh! Now that's a vision I didn't want to have! :) Though it does sound like a young male teenager's thought! Upon inspection, Moose discovers notes left on his essay: 
  On the top of the first page of my thesis about Roosevelt and his polio, it says State problem in handwriting that is hauntingly familiar. 
  Al Capone has sent me notes before. I know his handwriting really well. 
  But how did he get his hands on my homework? It must have been the cons working on our place. Somebody took my homework and gave it to him. 
  Except why'd he write that? He doesn't like my thesis? He's my English teacher now? 
  And then on the bottom of the last page he wrote: 
  Roosevelt is a good fella, but Capone is the guy you should be writing about. Okay, Roosevelt had that polio problem, but he was born rich. Capone started with nothing. He earned every penny himself. 
  Capone messed up my homework. How strange is that? A gangster did my homework. Not just any gangster either--public enemy number one.
  Luckily, he wrote in pencil. (83-84)
Ah, Moose later learns Capone had given him a huge clue, though in a way so subtle that none of the other cons would suspect, and unfortunately, Moose doesn't pick it up as quickly as he wishes he had...though he manages to intervene at the last minute. 

There is more than one mystery contained within this third installment, and Piper must finally confess and suffer the consequences of her actions. This is the most complex of the three books. It is heartening to see how all the kids work together. All in all, another well-written story by Choldenko. I don't know if she has plans to write any more books in this series, but I hope so... Even if you don't feel compelled to read these yourself, they would, in my opinion, make an excellent gift for a young reader! 

The worst of the worst launder more than just money!?!

Al Capone Does My Shirts: A Novel 

by Gennifer Choldenko

I just needed a break from the adult book world and what better distraction than children's literature? Admittedly, this is one of the very few books to which I was mainly attracted by the title. I just had to see what it was all about! Was I ever pleasantly surprised! This is so much more than a "kids" book! (As is so often the case!) :)

I have loved all the Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor books I've read, and this Honor book was no exception! I guess I had never really considered the total setup with a community like that on Alcatraz. Firstly, of course, the geographic location of an island forces isolation to themselves upon everyone living there. Secondly, I would have never considered that perhaps Alcatraz Island was a much safer and more secure environment than that of San Francisco just across the bay. Thirdly, we must remember the time, it was the depression--there were few jobs and so very many people were unemployed. At this time in US history, most females did not work outside the home, so it was mostly males competing for jobs and they were extremely scarce... 

Moose introduces us to his world on page 3:
        The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons 
     could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst.
     Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to. (3)
Yes, Moose, that is typically what happens at age 12--we go where our parents tell us to go! Live with our parents, wherever that might be... :) 

       I peek out the front window of our new apartment and look up to see a little glass room 
     lit bright in the dark night. This is the dock guard tower, a popcorn stand on stilts where
     somebody's dad sits with enough firepower to blow us all to smithereens. The only guns
     on the island are up high in the towers or the catwalks, because one flick of the wrist and
     a gun carried by a guard is a gun carried by a criminal. The keys to all the boats are
     kept up there for the same reason. They even have a crapper in each tower so the
     guards don't have to come down to take a leak. (4)
Yikes! That's some scary stuff! I don't think I would be thrilled with those living arrangements! But when you're 12 that's probably exciting, especially to your peers not living there!

Moose's dad explains the laundry system on Alcatraz:
     We don't put the laundry out until Wednesday. Comes back Monday.
       "Mom doesn't have to do it?"
       He shakes his head. "The convicts do the washing here."
       "The convicts wash my shirts, as in murderer convicts and kidnapper convicts, and     
     then I'm supposed to wear them?"
       He laughs. (34)
This knowledge proves to come in handy for Moose, Piper, and some of the other kids living on Alcatraz. Though what can seem good in the beginning...well...you know...

We soon learn that Moose's sister, Natalie, has some not-so-normal behaviors and habits.
And...
        Sometimes Nat's tantrums go on and on for days and nothing makes them stop. It's 
     impossible to know what will set her off. (9) 
I immediately feel for Natalie's whole family, but particularly Moose. I always think life is much harder for the more "normal"/socially acceptable sibling(s). :( This is one of my favorite parts of this series. Natalie's challenges feel so real and are depicted so realistically, so I was not at all surprised to learn that Choldenko's real-life sister deals with the symptoms of autism. No wonder she can depict Natalie so accurately! And sweetly! And so smart is so many ways! Natalie was definitely my favorite character. And who could resist her frequent proclamation, "Natalie Flanagan's whole family." :) 
     Natalie's age is always ten. Every year my mom has a party for her and she turns ten
     again. My mom started counting Nat's age this screwy way a long time ago. It was just
     easier to have her younger than me. Then my mother could be happy for each new thing
     I did, without it being another thing Natalie couldn't do. (12) 
I can understand this coping mechanism on his mom's part. 

Then enter Theresa Mattaman, "little Eleanor Roosevelt," who is trying to push her way into their apartment, and "Natalie-the-screamer" on the other side of the door, inside the apartment. As Moose thinks, "What they say about females being the weaker sex is the biggest lie in the world." :)

Moose describes himself:
     I don't like getting in trouble. I was born responsible. It's a curse. (16)
However, I wonder how much of that is inborn for Moose and how much is the result of constantly being held responsible for Natalie's well-being and behavior. That would be a lot of pressure for a child!

       Natalie turns all the way around and looks me straight in the eye in that weird way she
     has of suddenly being present after weeks of being somewhere else. (23)
Moose begins wondering whether Natalie may realize this is the first day she will go to school, for although they've built up the Esther P. Marinoff,
     "...somehow in all this talking, we ignored the major thing.
       You don't come home from the Esther P. Marinoff. Every morning when the sun comes
     up, that's where Natalie will be. (23)
Ooohhh, poor Natalie. Her parents don't tell her the truth that this is a "residential" school and she won't be returning home every night, fearing (rightfully so) it will upset her immeasurably, and yet, she is NOT stupid, she can sense the mood... 

Moose mistakenly assumed Natalie was interested in history since she had loved it when he read to her from a history book, 
       But it didn't take long to realize it wasn't history Natalie was interested in. It's the 
     indexes she loves. Any subject will do. (26)
      Sometimes is seems easier to be Natalie. People force her to do stuff. I have to force 
     myself. (42)
However, Natalie only lasts one day at Esther P. Marinoff, and since his Dad must work, Moose accompanies his mother to pick her up.
     Here we go again... Before the Esther P. Marinoff, the Barriman School was "It" and 
     before that the heat treatments and before that the aluminum formula before that UCLA. 
       At UCLA they made us cut Natalie's hair. Shaved it right off. They tested her like she 
     was some kind of insect. (65)
I remember my grandmother desperately searching for treatment for my aunt who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. It is desperation that you feel, particularly back in the early 1960's when there was basically NOTHING available, so I can only imagine in the 1930's!!

And wouldn't you like to be baby Rocky, who can rightfully claim (when he's older, of course!) that Al Capone's mother once rocked you and stopped your crying as an infant? :) So the kids' ruse to meet Al Capone's mother while on the boat to Alcatraz did work, however, Mrs. Capone never did see her own son, as she was so traumatized by the strip search which revealed nothing more than the metal stays in her old-fashioned corset had set off the metal detector. She refused to stay on the island. 
       I can't get over this. I keep thinking about when Al Capone was a baby. I'll bet his 
     mama sang him the same song she sang to Rocky. I'll bet she held his hand when they 
     crossed the street, packed his lunch for school, and sewed his name in his jacket--A. 
     Capone so everyone would know it was his.  
       I'll bet she wishes she could do it all over again too...if only Al were little and she could.
       (134)
Ah, yes, some of these criminals might have had just such a "normal" upbringing...

Moose uncharacteristically leaves Natalie unattended for a period of time while he looks for "convict" baseballs that may have gone over the wall from the inside. When he returns,
       "Hey, Nat, everything okay here? You just been playing your game, right?"
       "105," she says.
       "105?" I ask. (141)
Though at the time Moose believes she is talking about the numbers of rocks with which she is playing or the number of birds she has counted, he doesn't realize until near the end of the book just what this number truly means to Natalie. 

Then Moose asks his father the one question I'm sure most siblings of "different" children ask eventually,
       "Did I cause Natalie to be the way she is?" The question seems to come from 
     somewhere deep inside of me. 
       "Moose?" My father freezes, his eyes riveted on me.
       "Something I did? You said she got worse when she was three. That's when I was 
     born. Was it me?" I concentrate on the rug.
       "Moose." My dad grabs my shoulders and he looks straight into my eyes. "I don't 
     know," he says, taking a teary breath, "what caused Natalie to be sick. I don't think 
     anyone knows that. But I do know this." He bites his lip, his voice so full of feeling, he's 
     having trouble speaking. "Absolutely...absolutely for sure it had nothing, nothing at all to 
     do with you. (173)

These characters are so real. 

Choldenko does a great job of delineating the children and their inter-relationships, 

as well as the adults on the island. 

She includes a summary of her research and what was factual and what she fictionalized. 

I think children would enjoy this book. I certainly did. 

So much so, that I read the next two in the series! 

Does it sound interesting? Imaginative?