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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTwelve-year-old Moose Flanagan has just moved to Alcatraz Island in 1935, where his father works as an electrician and part-time guard at the federal prison. The whole reason the family uprooted from Santa Monica is to get Moose's older sister, Natalie, closer to the Esther P. Marinoff School, a program in San Francisco that their mother believes can help Natalie, who has always lived in a world of her own, fixated on buttons and numbers, prone to violent tantrums, and unable to communicate in ways most people understand. Moose is adjusting to a strange new life, sharing an island with hundreds of the country's most dangerous criminals, navigating friendships with the other kids who live there, and trying to figure out where he fits, all while his family's hopes rest on whether Natalie will be accepted into a school that might finally give her a chance.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Al Capone Does My Shirts
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Al Capone Does My Shirts. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a boy tell his class his roast chicken supper was cooked by a kidnapper?
✓ Answer
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Forced to give an oral report on his Christmas vacation, Moose tells his classmates his supper was cooked by a kidnapper, a two-time murderer, and a postal robber. He claims he was not scared, but really he had been terrified enough to skip dinner.
- First half
In what book does a friend tell a teammate, "Don't expect to play on my team again"?
✓ Answer
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Scout slams his book on the ground and tells Moose he is finished as a teammate. Moose has to back out of a Tuesday game he asked Scout to set up because he must watch his sister at home.
- First half
In what book does a sister quickly calculate three dollars and twenty cents split three ways?
✓ Answer
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
When the kids divide their laundry profits at the dock, Natalie does the math instantly. She comes up with one dollar six cents, two pennies left over, and keeps repeating the answer.
- Second half
In what book does a metal detector blare an alarm because of metal stays in an old woman's corset?
✓ Answer
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
When Teresina arrives to visit her son, the snitch box alarms because of her old-fashioned corset. The kids briefly believe she has smuggled in a gun.
- Second half
In what book does a sister mock her tutor by saying "Naow bah-tins, mizzy"?
✓ Answer
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Natalie imitates how Mrs. Kelly says no buttons, missy. Moose realizes his sister has just made a joke, the funniest thing he has ever heard from her.
- Near the end
In what book does a brother stand at the cell house door begging the warden for help?
✓ Answer
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Moose marches up the hill after his sister is rejected and begs the warden to call in favors. The warden refuses but tells him to run along.
