Al Capone Does My Shirts

By: Gennifer Choldenko

Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne

Murderers, mob bosses, and convicts . . . these guys are not your average neighbors. Unless you live on Alcatraz. It's 1935 and 12-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to the infamous island that's home to criminals like notorious escapee Roy Gardner, Machine Gun Kelly, and of course, Al Capone. Now Moose has to try to fit in at his new school, avoid getting caught up in one of the warden's daughter's countless plots, and keep an eye on his sister Natalie, who's not like other kids.

All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away.

©2009 Gennifer Choldenko (P)2009 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Choldenko's pacing is exquisite.... [A] great read." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Not what I was expecting, but it was good

When I first saw the title of this book, I assumed it was going to be funny or quirky. However, this book was more on the serious side. I still enjoyed it a lot! This is more of a coming of age novel than a humorous book. I love the way that they portrayed his sister's Autism and how realistic they were with the way it was viewed in that time period.
Reading this book has peeked my interest in the history of Alcatraz. Even though I knew that kids lived on the island, I never thought about their every day lives there.
The narrator is great! He brings the characters to life with the voices he uses. I definitely recommend this book.

Awesome

It was an amazing book with an interesting story and would read it again. It had an amazing plot and had lots of adventures

So Detailed

Best Book Ever.. No words, I could not stop reading this book til I finished it.

Our family loved this book!

Our family listened to this book while taking a road trip to San Francisco where we actually visited Alcatraz and got to meet a former inmate (he signed a baseball for my son). My wife, two boys (ages 8 and 15) and I really enjoyed the story and performance. We had not expected the story of Natalie which really touched us. We are definitely planning to get the sequels!

best book I have read in years

I loved it could not stop reading it was a very good book with a good hook that kept u reading

Good story

Amazing book and I really like all the criminals that were involved. Great book and I’m proud of what I rated it.

Devoted brother

liked the way the characters interacted with each other and how the characters were plausible.
The characters were very much normal in unusual circumstances.

good story. did not like the swearing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes. we listened to it on our ways to visit Alcatraz. It was a good introduction. The story was more about his disabled sister than Alcatraz but still good.

What about Kirby Heyborne’s performance did you like?

loved his reading. It sounded like he was really Moose telling the story of his life

Any additional comments?

It had some swearing which i did not think was needed in a children's book.

This is by far my favorite book in the whole world

amazing narrator that's what I loved about it thx thx thx thx thx thx xtxheh dhdbd hshsh dhdhd dudid ejeje

Good Read

I think my 6th grade students would like this book. I liked it, and bought the sequal.