Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

The book I am currently reading is called "Al Capone Does My Shirts," by Gennifer Choldenko. It's about a boy named Matthew Flanagan, known as "Moose" because of his big size. It takes place in 1935 when Moose and his family move to none other than Alcatraz, an island filled with kidnappers, murders, and families. He moved so the family could support themselves financially better, and so his sister Natalie -  who deals with autism, can go to the Ester P. Marnioff school that is made to help teach and take care of children with autism. I can relate to him because Moose is angry about the move, and wishes more then anything that he could move back to Santa Monica, and sometimes he feels over shadowed by his sister, which I can also relate too.

I can relate to Moose moving, because I recently moved houses myself. It has been pretty hard on me, a REALLY different change. I mean, I haven't moved to an island filled with serial  killers -  but still. In the story Moose says, "I want to be here like I want poison oak on my private parts." I'm not going to get into the details, but I had to move because of a similar reason like his. But just like Moose, I had to realized it is something that is out of my hands, and it'd be better to accept and embrace the change, rather than throw a temper tantrum about it.

Sometimes Moose feels over-shadowed by his sister, like the less important child. Like in the book it says, "'I'll bet you took Natalie out this morning, didn't you?' The question comes shooting out before I can stop it.
'Oh for goodness' sakes, Moose,' My mother looks up from where she's jammed in the corner, scrubbing the ice box. 'You weren't even up.'" Sometimes my parents will give special privleges to my sister Juliet because she's younger, and has never tried it, ect. It's a different situation then having a sister with autism, because this paragraph would be much different if I could realte to Moose on such a personal level. If I was Moose, or in the same situation I would feel exactly the same - disgusted with my self when ever I had a jealous thought against my sister.

All in all I really like this book so far because of it's historical fiction, and how much I can relate to the main character Moose. I can't wait to keep reading and find out how Moose deals with his struggles, and what else I can relate too.