Al Capone Shines my Shoes

 

By: Gennifer Choldenko

Review By: Lauren Billings 

            “You gotta watch cons like Al Capone. Starts out innocent enough. He shines your shoes. Pretty soon, he wants something for his efforts. You gonna give it to him? Well, you owe him now . . .”

       
               Al Capone shines my shoes is a realistic fiction book about a boy named Moose Flanagan and his family who live on Alcatraz island, along with other families whose dads are also guards, and a few hundred no-name hit men, con men, mad dog murderers, and a handful of bank robbers too. One of the Cons, Al Capone has done him a huge favor! Moose has never met him, but a few weeks ago Moose wrote a letter to Al asking him to use his influence to get his older sister Natalie into a school that she desperately needs. After Natalie gets accepted Moose receives a note in his freshly laundered shirt saying, “done.”

          This book begins when Moose discovers a note that says, “your turn.” What does this mean? Does Moose really have to pay Al Capone back? What would Al want? Moose can’t risk getting his dad fired! But should he really ignore Al Capone?

            I think this book has a great theme! It shows that you can never be perfect, but you can always try and that some people can surprise you. Moose’s older sister Natalie has a disability, but when she comes home to visit from the school she is attending her family is wowed! She has stopped having her fits all the time, she is talking correctly, and she has become very independent. Later in the book Natalie also helps save them when they run into trouble.

            I loved this book it was very exciting and it kept you wanting to read it! I think the author did a great job telling the story clearly! There was never a boring part in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone! It is a fun and exciting read! This book is the second of a series of books, but what is nice about it is you don’t really need to read the first book to understand this one! I think that almost anyone would love this book, but especially people who love realistic fiction!