Al Capone Does My Shirts

By: Gennifer Choldenko

Lexile Reading: 600 L

Suggested Delivery: Independent Read

Adventurous, Friendship, Eye opening, History, Love between a sister and a brother

Twelve year old Mouse Flanagan moves to the island prison of Alcatraz. He moves their due to his Dad getting a job as an electrician and a guard. He has an older sister who is autistic. At first Moose does not like his new home, but he meets good friends, and realizes he has a never ending friendship with his sister. The famous Al Capone is a prisoner at Alcatraz and does Moose’s laundry. Al Capone helps Mouse’s sister on her way to getting educated.

Electronic Resources:

Meet me at the Corner

This is about a minute and a half long video introducing the book. It gives brief background information to help the students know the basis of the book before they start reading it.

Al Capone on Alcatraz

This website is great for your students to explore. It has information about the author. It also gives information on who Al Capone was and how he ended up at Alcatraz. It also describes about autism and what inspired Miss Choldenko to include Natalie in the story. Students can explore this website after they read the book.

Key Vocabulary:

This vocabulary should be taught before reading the book.

Alcatraz

Poison oak

Runt

Convict

Quarters

Laundering

Warden

Reading Strategies:

Before the student have read this book, students will complete an anticipation guide on the book. They will answer these questions by saying true or false.

Al Capone was arrested and put into Alcatraz. True

Alcatraz is not on an island. False

Families of the guard of Alcatraz live near the prison. True

After the students have read, they will create a timeline containing five significant events which occur in the story. They will do this in groups of five.

Writing Activity that demonstrates Inferential Comprehension:

Write a journal entry as if you were a child living in Alcatraz. How would you feel? What characters would be your friends? What would you do for fun?

Choldenko, G. (2004). Al Capone does my shirts. New York: G.p. Putnam's Sons.

Recommended by my 12 year old sister Erin