Gennifer Choldenko has won many awards for this book.

It is set on the famous prison on Alcatraz Island in the year 1935, when the infamous gangster Al Capone was held there. It is about a twelve year-old boy called Moose Flanagan and his family, who have recently moved there because his dad works as a guard and an electrician in the prison.

His sister Natalie has autism; Moose’s mother desperately tries to get her sister into a special school that can help her to become normal again. When Natalie is rejected by the school, Moose is unable to play baseball with his newly-made friends and has to look after her. The pretty and irresistible Piper, the daughter of the Warden, dreams up a moneymaking scheme, which could land them in serious trouble: Moose reluctantly goes along with it ...

Here is an extract:

I want to be on Alcatraz like I want poison oak on my private parts. But apparently nobody cares, because now I'm Moose Flanagan, Alcatraz Island Boy all so my sister can go to the Esther P. Marinoff School, where kids have macaroni salad in their hair and wear their clothes inside out and there isn't a chalkboard or a book in sight. 

Good Moose. Obedient Moose. I always do what I'm supposed to do. 

In my opinion this is a brilliant book; I really enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down. Family dilemmas are at the centre of the book, but history and the setting also make the story incredibly interesting and often making you feel sympathy for Moose, as he and his family struggle to help his autistic sister.

 This story is told with good humour and incredible skill. I rate it 9.5 out of ten.