by Gennifer Choldenko
Puffin Books; Reprint edition, 2006
Moose and his family move to Alcatraz Island when his dad gets a job as electrician and guard at the infamous prison. The family’s goal with this move is to get Moose’s sister Natalie, who is “different” and “difficult”, into a San Francisco school for “troubled” children, so that she might have a better life. This would mean a better, or at least a less-stressful life for the rest of the family.
Appropriate Target Audience: Gr 5-8
Strengths/Weaknesses:
One of a few Juvenile Fiction novels concerned with Autism and how it affects both the person and their family. The author explores how the move to Alcatraz in a economically depressed time complicates life for the entire family. Moose searches for new friends, including the warden’s daughter Piper, who is always scheming about Alcatraz’ most famous inmate, Al Capone. His older sister, Natalie, can be hard to control when having one of her "fits", and it falls to Moose to care for her when he's not in school. An endearing historical novel concerning love, friendships, and autism before we began to recognize or understand it. The book includes an annotated map of Alcatraz and author’s notes describing what was fictionalized and how she incorporated fiction into reality of Alcatraz and the island-dwelling employees. Choldenko used personal experiences with her sister to inspire Moose’s sister Natalie. Would appeal to both boys and girls, as there are a variety of intriguing secondary characters, as well as Moose and Natalie.
Meaningful/creative uses:
An excellent Tween Book Club selection: discuss different types of learning, how Moose felt caring for his sister, was the special school the right choice for Natalie?
For Mental Health Awareness Month, create a display with Al Capone Does My Shirts and other children’s books that address feelings, health, and coping. Place a Mood Wall alongside the display, so library users can show how they feel inside.
Awards:
- 2005 Newbery Honor book
- 2007 California Young Reader Medal
- Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, 2006 (Autism)
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary D. Schmidt; “It only takes a few hours for Turner Buckminster to start hating Phippsburg, Maine. No one in town will let him forget that he's a minister's son, even if he doesn't act like one. But then he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a smart and sassy girl from a poor nearby island community founded by former slaves. Despite his father's-and the town's-disapproval of their friendship, Turner spends time with Lizzie, and it opens up a whole new world to him, filled with the mystery and wonder of Maine's rocky coast.”
Counting Thyme, by Melanie Concklin; “When eleven-year-old Thyme Owens’ little brother, Val, is accepted into a new cancer drug trial, it’s just the second chance that he needs. But it also means the Owens family has to move to New York, thousands of miles away from Thyme’s best friend and everything she knows and loves. The island of Manhattan doesn’t exactly inspire new beginnings, but Thyme tries to embrace the change for what it is: temporary.”
The War that Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley; “Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.”
Resources: Dolly Grey Awards ; Children's Lit dealing with Mental Illness; Mood Wall; Mood Wall in Nashville
Tags: Family, mental_illness, hard_times, responsibilities, friends, baseball, relocating, habits
