Al Capone Shines My Shoes - 2012 Book #21

Al Capone Shines My Shoes is the sequel to Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts. The story is once again told by Moose Flannagan about his life on Alcatraz Island. His sister Natalie goes off to school, and Moose finally learns what it feels like to have his mother's undivided attention. He's made friends both at school off the island and on the island. Life is good. But then, he receives a message that he thinks is from the convict Al Capone. It says, "Your turn." Moose thinks it's a message telling him that now it's his turn to do a favor for Al Capone in return for the favor Moose thinks Al Capone did for him. Moose's friend Annie finds out and gets mad when Moose refuses to tell his parents. Moose doesn't want his dad to get fired or anything, so he doesn't want to tell. It seems that everyone gets mad at Moose for something. Jimmy seems to be mad, because Moose's friend Scout makes fun of his baseball skills; Piper's mad because Theresa catches her and Moose about to kiss; Natalie's mad, because she's been away from Moose; Annie's mad, because Moose won't tell about Al Capone; and Scout's mad, because Moose tells him to stay away from Piper. Moose is just trying to please everyone, but it seems that trying to please everyone isn't as easy as it seems. On top of all that, it seems that someone off the island is trying to help the convicts escape, and it seems as though they are trying to pin the blame on Moose's family. He was just starting to like his life on Alcatraz Island and doesn't want his dad to lose his job, so he must do everything he can to stop that from happening.

This book is a great sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts. It's fairly fast-paced, keeping the reader interested. It has real historical facts scattered throughout the book, and the story is based off of events that actually happened on Alcatraz Island during that time period. The author includes a section in the back of the book that explains all the historical details that the book was based off of. This was a great read.