Al Capone does my shirts

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During February and March, Natalie does not have a single fit and “seems easier and more present.” At school, Moose is paired with Scout on a project, and their friendship resumes as if nothing ever happened to interrupt it. Scout has heard that when the prisoners on Alcatraz play baseball in the recreation yard, a ball will sometimes go over the wall, and the children who find it get to keep it. Scout wants Moose to get him a “convict baseball.”

Here's an awesome little history lesson on the infamous Al Capone, courtesy of none other than the FBI. He was one bad dude, that's for sure, though he met a pretty meager ending. Like with book four, I found the descriptions of family life, life on Alcatraz, the historical setting, the characters, and the plot were quite engaging. People from middle grade through adults would have a good time with this one. I'm definitely going to keep going with catching up on the series. Even as upset as I am right now, some part of me registers how cute she is.” A boy explains that a convict whistled at his sister. He is worried that this could be dangerous but the mother thinks it’s great. A boy tells another boy that a girl is googly-eyed over him. The mentally challenged girl disappeared for a few minutes and the brother finds her with a convict. It troubles him that he doesn’t know what happened. A friend says, “She’s not pregnant, right? … You do know about the birds and the bees, don’t you?” (she is not pregnant and as far as explained, nothing happened). Moose is watching Natalie one afternoon when little Theresa Mattaman comes to the door and offers to show them around the island. Theresa excitedly tells Moose and Natalie about the famous criminals who are housed there, especially Al Capone. At the morgue, they meet Piper Williams, the warden’s daughter. Piper is attractive and abrasive, and Moose can tell that she is trouble.One Third Nerd, my funniest novel yet, is due out in January 2019. My most famous novel, Al Capone Does My Shirts, garnered 20 awards, one of which was the Newbery Honor. The Tales of Alcatraz series has sold more than 2 million copies. What will probably be the last book in the series: Al Capone Throws Me a Curve is the best of the fifteen books I’ve written so far. Some reviewers didn't like the way in which Moose's (main character) autistic older sister is treated. Her parents keep trying to "cure" her. Twelve year old Moose is charged with watching her when not in school. Is that fair - no, but parents make do. The story takes place in the 1930's, and treatment/education of autistic children was limited. The son asks the dad why he always does what the mother says (implying he’s not the head of the house). Parents get into a fight. A boy confronts his mom about her lying (the mother apologizes about her lying). “My mom’s done a million of things to help Natalie. The aluminum treatments, the voodoo dolls, UCLA, the psychiatrists, the Bible readings… What good were they?” With a name like Al Capone Does My Shirts, I was settled in for a good light read, not. Not that it isn't an easy read but there is pathos in this story of Moose Flannagan. Moose is the brother of a severely challenged sister, Natalie, who cannot function in society and is sometimes entombed in her own frightening world to the exclusion of even her family.

In the 1930s, Matthew "Moose" Flanagan and his family move from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island when his father takes a new job as an electrician and a guard in the well-known Alcatraz prison. Moose becomes friends with the warden's daughter, Piper, who regularly gets into trouble in her attempts to get money to get off of Alcatraz. Piper talks Moose into being part of her money-making schemes, like having inmates on the island do laundry for the kids at school. When the scheme fails and the Warden receives word of it, the children are punished and have to find a new way to spend their time.The family in this story is pretty dysfunctional. The daughter is mentally challenged and this often leads to many fights between the parents and between the son and his parents as they try to cope. The mother lies often, for the sake of her daughter (which her son confronts her on, and later the father). The son's friend, who is throughout the book, is a chronic liar, constantly manipulating her "friends" and her parents to get what she wants. She likes doing things that are against the rules. The story concludes with Al Capone saving the day. There’s a Lego in my bum which fits with the Lego in my chair and when I sit down to write, I hear the satisfying snap of the two pieces fitting together. I love words, dictionaries, thesauruses, sharp pencils, the smell of book ink and the delicious art of carving out sentences on clean white paper. I love to slip into another person’s skin and feel what it’s like to live another life. I love when characters come to me out of nowhere and make me cry so hard my mascara runs or laugh until my stomach hurts. I love the crazy fun and infinite possibility of storytelling.

Physical / Personality Traits: How does this character interact with others in the book? What challenges does this character face? The story, told with humor and skill, will fascinate readers." -- School Library Journal , starred review

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A boy notices a girl’s “cut little movie star mouth. That long straight hair.” A girl holds hands with a convict. A girl is holding a convicts hand (he is much older than she is). The brother thinks this is terrible and it is good. A father teases his son about a girl. A father winks at his son and says, “girl trouble.” A father says, “walk your friends home, please … Or should I say your harem.” Later a friend says, “goodnight, you two” teasing about the boy and girl being together. “I want to be here like I want poison oak on my private parts.” A girl looks at an ink blotch on a boy’s pants, right next to his fly. Regarding nervousness: “You start thinking, you get your drawers all in a twist.” Forget everything you think you know about moose, because Moose Flanagan is neither covered in fur, nor does he have ridiculously long legs. Instead, he's just a kid trying to make it in the 1930s… with an autistic sister… and Al Capone for a neighbor. He's living in a whole different kind of wilderness from his four-legged namesakes. The Flanagans receive a call from the director of the Esther P. Marinoff School, who tells them that Natalie has not been able to adjust and that they must come for her immediately. The Flanagans are referred to Mrs. Kelly, a woman who might be able to work with Natalie. After consulting with Mrs. Kelly, Moose’s mom states that while she gives piano lessons in the city in the afternoons, Moose, in the interest of helping his sister “join the human race,” will be expected to take Natalie everywhere with him after school as if she were “a normal sister.” Moose pleads with his mother to let him have Mondays off so he can play baseball, but she tells him to ask his friends to move the games to Tuesdays, when she does not have lessons scheduled. To Moose’s surprise, Scout is able to reschedule the games. But Moose’s mother’s Monday lesson is switched to Tuesdays. When Moose tells Scout that he cannot play on Tuesdays now either, Scout gets angry and tells Moose, “Don’t expect to play on my team again.” Religious Profanity - 12 Incidents: For Pete's sake, goodness' sake, cripe's sake, thank God, oh my God, Sweet Jesus, Jeez, chrissake, Gee Al is the perfect novel for a young guy or moll who digs books by Gordon Korman, or Louis Sachar." -- Time Out New York for Kids

Al Capone Does My Shirts opens with Moose and his family moving to Alcatraz where his dad got a job as both prison guard and electrician. His mom teaches music lessons. And, they are there so his sister can get into a special school in San Francisco that might help her. Autism takes a tremendous toll on families. Beyond the need to arrange for basic custodial care corresponding to the severity of the affliction, parents must wade through myriad treatment options that are variable and largely unproven. The search for an effective intervention, as is shown by the experience of the Flanagan family, requires tremendous commitment and expense, and even today there are no guarantees for success. In the process, Moose is robbed of his childhood, and his mother is literally driven to the brink of insanity.In his riskiest move to date, Moose decides to take matters into his own hands and writes a letter to Al Capone—the infamous gangster at Alcatraz—asking him to use his connections to help his sister get into school. And guess what? Within days, Natalie is accepted into the Esther P. Marinoff School. Huh. Most of these schemes turn out to be flops. Case in point: Piper starts a criminal laundry service for the kids at school, but the kids lose interest really fast. Moose starts hunting around outside the prison's rec center every day, though, hoping to find a stray baseball. Kid's got to keep himself amused somehow, after all. In 2011, the book was adapted as a stage performance at The Children's Theatre of Western Springs. [7] Twelve-year-old Moose moves to Alcatraz, from Santa Monica, California, with his autistic sister, mother, and father. His father gets a guard job on Alcatraz while his mother tries to get his sister, Natalie, into a "great" school helping young kids in her condition.