11) Al Capone Does My Shirts-Gennifer Choldenko

Moose Flanagan is not happy that his family has to move. He's also not happy that the move is to Alcatraz island, home to the worst of the worst behind bars. Once there, he realizes that there aren't many children to come by and the differences between his old life and the life on Alcatraz are even more different than he thought. After meeting Piper, the warden's daughter, he gets into trouble by being an accessory to her elaborate scheme to take money from students to have their clothes laundered by Al Capone. When the entire operation blows up in their faces, Moose's mother tells him that he will have to take care of his sister every day after school.

Natalie is a special case. It's 1935 and Autism has yet to be fully diagnosed, which has lead the Flanagan's to many different treatments to figure out what has happened to their daughter. After she is rejected from the Esther P. Marinoff school and Moose begins to take care of her, things start to change for everyone involved. Natalie is once again interviewed for the school. Does she make it in this time? What if she doesn't? What could Moose or anyone else possibly do to make sure that this time she finally gets in and stays?

Secondary Schools read. I thought it was a good book. It was really quick. I didn't realize that I'd already put away 100 pages until I looked at the page number. It was interesting to see how they approached the topic of Autism in the earlier part of the century when it still wasn't diagnosed. They never actually say what's wrong with her, but you are able to figure it out. When you see the title, you have an assumption of what you're about to read, but when you get into it, it's completely different. I liked that about it. Despite the fact that he lives on Alcatraz with some of history's most notorious convicts, it doesn't necessarily bring attention to that, but when they do, it's really interesting how they tie it in. 

Plus, I just pictured Stephen Graham from Boardwalk Empire as Al Capone and it made him more tangible. What? We all do weird things, okay? I'm actually intrigued enough to want to read the sequel now!