Al Capone Throws Me a Curve by Gennifer Choldenko

The latest installment in the “Tales from Alcatraz” series deals with mature themes in a sympathetic, engaging way.  Ages 12-15

Al Capone Throws Me a Curve by Gennifer Choldenko.  Penguin Random House, 2018, 240 pages.  

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 12-15

Matthew Flanagan, better known as Moose, didn’t want to move with his family from Santa Monica to San Francisco, much less Alcatraz Island.  But it’s the middle of the Great Depression and the guard job was open.  More importantly, San Francisco is home to the Esther P. Marinoff School, where his older sister Natalie can be taught to look people in the eye and say complete sentences.  Natalie is autistic, but Moose never uses that word to describe her because it hasn’t been coined yet.  He just knows her “brain isn’t wired” like most kids’.  The school has helped Natalie, and after almost two years on the island populated with “crafty criminals plotting ways to knock you off” Moose has begun to feel at home.  With the last day of school in sight and baseball season in full swing he’s hoping to get on the high school team for next year.  His chief strategy is to join the sandlot team of high school boys this summer, and his Alcatraz address might actually help, for once.  To the guys, it’s a definite cool factor–as long as he can prove it.

But summer also means that Moose’s old nemesis Piper, the Warden’s daughter, is back from boarding school.  His suspicions are raised when Piper strikes up a friendship with Natalie: is this on the level?  Natalie is no longer a kid in frilly dresses, but a young lady of 17, with the curves to prove it.  How will she handle the male attention coming her way?

The light-hearted titles of Choldenko’s “Tales from Alcatraz” promise a fun read, but there’s always a serious core, and this fourth (and last?) installment of the series may be the most sobering.  While not getting the details about their crimes, the reader understands that the inmates are there for a reason, even though their treatment (as Moose’s father believes) should be humane and redemption is possible.  Church and spiritual needs are mentioned but don’t play an evident role in the decisions Moose must make.  The great value in this story is seeing him make those decisions out of duty, loyalty, and fundamental decency.  The growing-up trauma Natalie faces boots this installment into early-YA territory, but it’s a rewarding read and a heart-tugging finale.

Cautions: Language (one misuse of God’s name)

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic value: 4