Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko is the sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts (a Maud Hart Lovelace nominee from the 2007 - 2008 school year). It takes place at Alcatraz, the island prison just off the coast of California, in 1935, during the time Al Capone was imprisoned there. The civilian residents on the island have their laundry done by the convicts. As a result, Al Capone is able to slip a note to Moose, the main character, asking for a favor. Moose is reluctant to do a favor for a criminal, knowing he might end up in really big trouble - either with his parents, the warden, or in debt to Al Capone! But, Moose feels obligated to help because he knows Al Capone somehow got Natalie (Moose's autistic sister) into a special school from which she had previously been denied entrance twice. Moose decides to do the favor, which is to buy yellow roses for Al Capone's wife and deliver them to her on the ferry from the main land. Unfortunately, this starts a chain of events which Moose never could have predicted - ending in an escape attempt by three convicts!

I liked this book, though not as much as Al Capone Does My Shirts. The sequel had the same characters - Annie, Moose's baseball playing friend from the island, Piper, the warden's scheming daughter, Jimmy, Moose's fly-breeding friend on the island and his sister Theresa, Scout, Moose's friend from school on the main land, and Janet, the most hated guard's daughter. There was a lot more drama from the prison in this book. It really showed more of the 'nastiness' of the prisoners. I really liked the author's note in the back, explaining the research behind the story and the facts about Alcatraz and its residents through the years. This book comes out in September, 2009.