Desperate to help Natalie, Moose, with the help of Piper, writes a letter to the infamous criminal Al Capone, who works in Alcatraz's laundry. Moose and his family's hopes are crushed when the school rejects Natalie. Marinoff School for people with special needs. Scared of his sister hanging out with a convict, Moose is only reassured because of his confidence that she will be re-accepted to the Esther P.

Onion knows Moose has been looking for a baseball and gives him one. Moose eventually notices his older sister Natalie developing a relationship with convict 105, also known as Onion, who is trusted and able to roam freely because his sentence is almost up. In an attempt to gain acceptance, Moose hangs around the prisoners' rec center in hopes of finding a stray baseball for use in games with the other kids. 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. Piper talks Moose into being part of her money-making schemes, like having inmates on the island do laundry for the kids at school. Moose becomes friends with the warden's daughter, Piper, who regularly gets into trouble in her attempts to earn money to get off of Alcatraz. 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. It has three sequels: Al Capone Shines My Shoes, Al Capone Does My Homework, and Al Capone Throws Me a Curve.

The book was named a Newbery Honor selection, and in 2007 it received the California Young Reader Medal. In the book, 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. Newbery Honor selection, California Young Reader Medal in 2007Īl Capone Does My Shirts is a historical fiction novel for young adults by the author Gennifer Choldenko. Alcatraz Island, near San Francisco in 1935

Al capone washed my shirts