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Al Capone Does My Shirts
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
18 posts | 42 read | 15 to read
A Newbery Honor Book Today I moved to a twelve-acre rock covered with cement, topped with bird turd and surrounded by water. I'm not the only kid who lives here. There's my sister, Natalie, except she doesn't count. And there are twenty-three other kids who live on the island because their dads work as guards or cook's or doctors or electricians for the prison, like my dad does. Plus, there are a ton of murderers, rapists, hit men, con men, stickup men, embezzlers, connivers, burglars, kidnappers and maybe even an innocent man or two, though I doubt it. The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don't want. I never knew prisons could be picky, but I guess they can. You get to Alcatraz by being the worst of the worst. Unless you're me. I came here because my mother said I had to. "Choldenko's pacing is exquisite. . . . [A] great read."Kirkus Reviews, starred review From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Erinreadsthebooks
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

Thinking about teaching this one to my 6th graders and incorporating some informational texts about Alcatraz, the Depression, and Autism. The title irked me until I read the author‘s note that the title was a phrase used by Army officers stationed in San Francisco. An interesting, quick read.

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mrp27
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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#adventrecommends

I have a fascination with Alcatraz prison so I figured I‘d give this book and the series a go. I was not disappointed. It‘s a fun blend of fact and fiction about life as a prison guards kid on the island living just feet away from the prison and it‘s notorious prisoners. Such an interesting and charming read.

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Simplykellyk
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
Pickpick

I have taken a bit of a break from reading... sadly. You know... life happens. But this was a great jump back into reading. I love young adult books and this one was such a fun read!! Moose, you da bomb!

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Blaire
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

As a mom of a special needs child, I was apprehensive about how the character of Natalie (who has autism) would be handled. After uncomfortable teasing in the 1st chapter, the rest of the novel shows Natalie as complex with emotions and understanding beyond what she is initially given credit for. The setting is Alcatraz but the story is about the relationship between a typical brother and his autistic sister in the 1930s. #mg #coverchange ⬇️

Blaire #bbrc. The author‘s sister has autism and I think this helps make it a less stereotypical portrait. Natalie is called retarded by another child at the start of the book and I found this upsetting. If reading with kids a lot of context about the historical period and how people who were not neurotypical were viewed at the time. 5y
LibrarianRyan I'm glad you liked it. I love this series. I haven't read all of them, but most of them. 5y
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JRone
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

This Newbery Honor Book and New York Times Best Seller is a HF novel written by Gennifer Choldenko. Moose Flanagan moved to the infamous island of Alcatraz who's home to criminals like Al Capone in 1935. Moose tries to fit in and protect his sister but on Alcatraz, trouble is never far away. #UCFLAE3414F19

JRone This lesson plan would be great for a LC because it provides in-depth questions for students to share their thoughts on. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/al-capone-does... 5y
JRone UDL strategy 2.1, clarify vocabulary and symbols would be essential for students to understand words relating to the island, criminals and overall the whole story before reading the book. EL strategy #42, have students use timelines to arrange and sequence facts and important information would help students follow along with all the major events in the book. 5y
DrSpalding This is such a great book to integrate social studies and English language arts. It would make an excellent literature circle option for your students. 5y
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Tracey3
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

Another summer reading book for my incoming fifth graders. I loved this book so much. The characters were well developed and had just the right amount of complexity. I literally had chills when I finished the last chapter. I plan to read the rest of this series at some point.

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LibrarianRyan
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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This series may be a little you g yet, but I consider it a new classic. It‘s amazing. It‘s about a boy who lives on Alcatraz and his life with his special needs sister at the time Al Capone was in prisoned.

The cover change is simple. There were a few years between book 2 and book 3 (pictured in green) which probably prompted the cover change.

MG
#bbrc
#coverchanges

wildwoodreads Aww I loved these years ago! ❤️ 5y
mrp27 Such a great series and I was so happy that I was actually able to buy one of the books at Alcatraz when I visited. 5y
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Kcompton2912
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

This HF Newbery Honor winner tells the story of a little boy and his sister who is loved to Alcatraz island where his father has gotten a job. The little boy, Moose, his just trying to be a kid while taking care of his sister, playing baseball, and possibly having a side business working with Al Capone?! This would be great PR and LC. You can used the teachers guide from scholastic for guided reading questions.

Kcompton2912 https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/al-capone-does... The UDL principle 6.2, support planning and strategy development, and the EL strategy 3, encourage self-talk (positive thinking), can be met with this novel. #UCFLAE3414SU19 5y
MeganKlein @Kcompton2912, This sounds like a really interesting HF book that I would love to read! I can see a lot of older elementary students liking this book a lot. The discussion guide you included had some great questions that would help teachers assess student comprehension and overall understanding of the text. 5y
DrSpalding Having visited Alcatraz twice, this is an excellent read that could truly entice students to enjoy historical fiction novels. Excellent choice of a quality award winner. 5y
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MommyOfTwo
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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#ItsGonnaBeMe that gets these books plus at least two others for my book clubs read this month.

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks You go girl!!! 6y
LibrarianRyan I love the alcapone books. 6y
OriginalCyn620 Nice! 👌🏻 6y
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Killianfig
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

The Newbery Award winning historical fiction novel Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is also a very informative and entertaining book for young readers. I loved reading myself in school and rereading it was just the same feeling. The exciting setting of Alcatraz as well as the exploration of themes such as special needs makes this novel perfectly entertaining and informative in the classroom.

Killianfig UDL strategies regarding background knowledge and interpersonal connection such as 3.1, 3.4, and 2.5 are very helpful as students can be more informed on the theme of special needs, having more understanding and engagement in the text when they read it. ESOL strategies 20 and 29 would also be helpful techniques when teaching background knowledge. Here‘s a cool lesson! https://www.commonsense.org/education/lesson-plans/al-capone-does-my-shirts 6y
DrSpalding Another excellent post Killian. I recall you enjoying this book and I am glad you revisited it as an adult reader. Love the retro postcard. Common sense media is an excellent resource. 6y
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BookaholicNatty
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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This is the first book on the Middle School/Junior 2019 Reading Olympics Must Read Booklist. It is a book and there is also an audiobook of it that is said to be very good! It is a Newbery Award winning book set in the 1930s and follows the adventure of 12 year old Moose and his autistic sister Natalie, after their family moves to the prison island of Alcatraz. This book has two sequels that follow it. If you love this, you will enjoy them too! 📚

LibrarianRyan Love this book. And there are 3 or is it 4 sequels. A new one came out in 2018. 6y
dragondrool Fun book! 6y
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tonyahoswalt
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Second of three loot posts from #ALA . I may have gone a little crazy buying t-shirts. Three from the Library Comic guys, two from Out of Print, and Two from The Harry Potter Alliance. The yellow bit you can't see is a free shirt from FSU, where I got my MLIS in 2014.

JoScho 😍😍😍 6y
SilversReviews I love the one with the card catalog drawer. 6y
tonyahoswalt @SilversReviews I know, I had to have that one! 6y
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leahbird I really want that Elephant & Piggy one and the Muggles into Wizard one. Great haul! 6y
tonyahoswalt @leahbird I've been wanting Elephant & Piggie for a long time! I used to act out the books with our former children's librarian for her storytimes. She was Piggie, I was Gerald. She said I was a good Gerald because I was tall and had glasses, lol. She was a perfect Piggie! 6y
Chelleo @tonyahoswalt Whoa!!! Great selection of T-shirt‘s! 6y
tonyahoswalt @Chelleo I went a little crazy! 😋 6y
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Onlaughterandliteracy
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Visited The Rock yesterday and picked up this gem for my classroom! 👏🏻

ElishaLovesBooks I‘ve taught this! Great book and the students love it!! 7y
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MakenzieT
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Al Capone Does My Shirts a tale from Alcatraz is a fascinating RF book that won the Newberry award, written by Gennifer Choldenko. This would be a great book for LC or S in the classroom. It would be beneficial to incorporate into a history lesson as well. I found a wonderful resource from the National Park Service at https://www.nps.gov/alca/learn/kidsyouth/index.htm

MakenzieT EL-29 Offer a variety of reference materials at the students' instructional level for independent use
UDL-4.2 Optimize access to tools and assistive technology
#UCFLAE3414F17
7y
DrSpalding Fantastic! I hope you were inspired to read this from the article in your course pack. How cool is it that the National Park Service provides such resources. EL 29 is perfect. Students will be interested in learning more about Alcatraz. 7y
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CogsOfEncouragement
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Pickpick

Not sure where to begin. This book was so much more than I expected. My 10 year old son and I give it 5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed reading it with him and discussing the emotions of the characters and their struggles. I found this book while browsing in the library. The title obviously got my attention. So glad I grabbed it.

BookInMyHands I loved this one! I think there are two more books in the series too. 8y
CogsOfEncouragement @BookInMyHands I noticed it was a series afterward too! My son and I want to read more. 🙂📚❤️ 8y
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CogsOfEncouragement
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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I went to the library today in search of things for the kids to read on their own. Couldn't help but find more books I want to read with them! #libraryhaul #booknerdbliss

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GlitteryOtters
Al Capone Does My Shirts | Gennifer Choldenko
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Today's #somethingforsept...Alcatraz Island in 1935. My #MapsInBooks choice!

RealLifeReading Cool!! 8y
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