Review Friday
Al Capone Shines My Shoes

Summary

Moose's life seems to be going better. His sister's finally in the school she needs, his mother spends more time with him, and his friend Scout can finally come to Alcatraz to play ball with him. But the reason Moose's sister got into school was Al Capone, and now it seems like Moose may have to pay the piper.

Overview (No spoilers)

Choldenko's gift of narration and Moose's character kept me turning the pages. I did want to know what happened next. There was everything you needed for excitement--real peril and dastardly plots. However, I didn't get as much character development in this book as I was hoping. Perhaps the author plans to write more books because it made me feel like it was a coming of age story that didn't quite come of age.

6/10 stars * * * * * *

Book Club (Spoilers)

I still hated Piper's character at the end of this book and was annoyed with Moose for being attracted to her in spite of her obnoxious behavior. I don't care if she was having a hard time because of her mother's pregnancy. Maybe if she had been nice in the first book and this marked a change in her character, but she was the same in the first book, so she's just a horrible, selfish person in good times and bad. I also didn't quite get or believe Al Capone could be involved with getting Moose's sister into school and even though there was a jail break on Alcatraz, the children's involvement seemed far-fetched.

However, in spite of these complaints, I would read another of these books because it could simply be that the story isn't finished yet, and I would still love to see how Moose's story continues.