Book of the Month Worksheet
Samuel H.
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Pages: 240
Student lists 5 true (not fictional)
facts the author used in the book.
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Student has explained each fact in two
to five sentences.
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For each fact presented, the student
cites a reliable source (print or online).
Do not use Wikipedia or an ask and answer site.
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Fact #1 Alcatraz was a prison
Reliable Source: http://www.history.com/topics/alcatraz
Alcatraz prison operated as a federal prison between 1934 and 1963. In housed some of the most notorious criminals including Al (Scarface) Capone, George Francis Barnes Jr. (AKA George ¨Machine Gun¨ Kelly), Alvin Francis Karpowicz, and Robert Franklin Stroud. It started housing prisoners in the late 1950ś. It was finally shut down after high operation costs in 1963. Now it is a very popular tourist location.
Fact #2 Civilians were housed on alcatraz
Reliable source:http://www.ournationalparks.us/west/san-francisco-bay-area/alcatraz_was_unique_home_for_prison_staff_families/
Alcatraz though was notorious as being a prison actually housed many families. About 300 civilians lived on the island including 60-80 children. Officers and their wives and children were housed on alcatraz with quaint living circumstances. Other than living on a island that housed some of the most dangerous criminals living on alcatraz as a citizen was almost like living in an offshore community.
Fact #3 Al Capone on Alcatraz
Reliable source: http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/cap1.htm
Al Capone was a family oriented, high class, and a self-made gangster millionaire. He got the attention he wanted from the country, but he was finally convicted on October 17, 1931. He was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment starting at the Atlanta prison. Even there though he was able to bypass the system and was said to keep large stashes of money in his cell. Then, the head of the prison sent Al Capone to a place where he couldn’t bypass the system, Alcatraz. Al Capone from the start tried to manipulate the system, but couldn’t. He finally receded and spent 4 and a half years on Alcatraz. He then got syphilis and was transferred where he spent the rest of his time in prison.
Fact #4 Alcatraz prisoner #105 (named “onion”)
Reliable Source: https://research.archives.gov/id/6233386
Prisoner #105 John Allen Kendrick was admitted to Alcatraz with a charge of Assault with the intent to kill and murder. He is nicknamed Onion because of his slicked back hair.
Fact #5 Baseball for inmates on alcatraz
On Alcatraz baseball was very popular between the inmates. They had no uniforms, but the prison provided gloves, balls, and bats. The inmates would organize the teams. They had 4 Intramural and league teams. In their game of baseball if you hit the ball over the fence it was an out not a home run.
[Student explains in one or two sentences what
makes the book fictional. (Usually at
least some of the characters are fictional.)]
Al Capone Does My Shirts is fictional because of the main characters. There is no way to tell the things that the person said, so to get an interesting historical fiction book you would most likely use some fictional characters, such as Moose and his sister Natalie and their parents who all move to live on Alcatraz Island.
[Student compares and/or
contrasts the experience of reading fictional and nonfictional accounts of this
same topic.]
Reading fictional and Nonfictional readings on the topic of Alcatraz: Nonfiction readings about Alcatraz were mostly just history and facts, whereas my fictional readings on the topic of Alcatraz showed life through the aspect of those living in the time of when Alcatraz was functional. In the fictional book with Moose and his family and the warden's daughter Piper and the other kids we saw what life would have been like for families on Alcatraz.
