Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

What is it with the drama? Why do people like it so much? And do kids like it that much? According to the blurb on the jacket, Choldenko is renowned (at least in her family) for her quirky humor. I dunno what's wrong with me, but I don't find this funny at all. Harris and Me was funny, Al Capone Does My Shirts is a tragedy with a happy-ish ending slapped on the end. "Moose" in this story has a life hardly anyone could envy: Depression era, overworked/underpaid father, mother who's too busy dealing with his sister, and the sister who is autistic and apparently his responsibility. The so-called humor, I suppose, is in the relationship with the boss's daughter, the redoubtable Piper, who would give a preacher's kid a run for his money. Piper is obsessed with trading on her position and access as the warden's daughter. Yes, they all live at Alcatraz. Choldenko at least adds some interesting historical background material at the end to give you an idea of what living in the workers' quarters of Alcatraz was like.
I just couldn't get into this. I tried the play-away version first, but I fell asleep as I usually do. Then I couldn't get myself to rewind and start again. So I grabbed the hardcopy, which is a quick read. I was hoping for some humor in this to brighten my drab existence, but I just didn't find it. I suppose it's Piper soliciting clothing from her fellow students on the mainland to be washed in the prison laundry "by Al Capone" for five cents. Capone apparently operated the mangle in the prison laundry when he was first moved to Alcatraz. Operating the mangle was considered back-breaking work and the least desirable of jobs, which must mean the mangle wasn't ergonomically designed. Not like our new-fangled mangles with the height adjustment and Pentium processors! This sort of hijinks always reminds me of Lucille Ball, whose shows I often had to hide from because I could tell, even as a tiny tot, that she was just going to get into trouble, which was too much like watching my sister in action. Funny, I didn't get that impression from Harris and Me, where a boy in an unfortunate family situation is shunted from one relative's home to another and ends up with a cousin like Piper who is just bursting with "great" ideas. But the humor (what little there was) was in there to mitigate the agony and frustration of dealing with an autistic family member, something Choldenko knows from experience and so that part is touching, heart-wrenching, and realistic.
It just isn't funny enough to live up to the title.