I read this book aloud to my class. I let them vote and averaged it... 3.68 stars!
Students were asked to give one or two sentence reviews:
"I like the book a lot"
"I would recommend this book because it was very exciting...I always wanted to find out what happened next ... It left me on the edge of my seat".
"I did not like it because I did not really understand it..."
"I loved all the characters. I thought it was interesting and it made me laugh sometimes"
"I didn't understand any of it, but keep trying Mrs. Pacinello!"

I enjoyed reading to my class. ( )

The title threw me off, I expected a book about a jerk kid(since those seem to be painfully popular) but instead this is a sweet story of a boy trying to take care of himself an his older sister who is autistic. ( )

The problem sometimes is that I fall so in love with a title, that the book cannot possibly compare. This is one of those books. It was good - a cute YA book about dealing with a sibling with severe autism. Alcatraz loosely features as a supporting character, mostly in cameo. ( )

Good YA novel with insights into autism and the history of Alcatraz prison. ( )

In the 1930s, Moose Flanagan moves with his family from Santa Monica to Alcatraz Island, where his father has gotten a job as an electrician and a guard; the family moved, in part, in the hopes of Moose's sister Natalie getting into the Esther P. Maranoff school for disabled children. But Natalie doesn't get in, and she becomes Moose's responsibility after school when their mother goes to San Francisco to teach piano lessons. Moose loves Natalie and doesn't always agree with his mom about what's best for her; he's also frustrated that he isn't able to play baseball with his friends after school. There aren't many other kids his age on the island, and the one who is - Piper - is the warden's daughter. Piper is sweet-faced but full of schemes and mischief; ultimately, though, Moose takes a leaf out of Piper's book and sends a letter to Al Capone to ask for his help getting Natalie admitted to the school. ( )