Friday Memes: Al Capone Throws Me a Curve by Gennifer Choldenko

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Al Capone Throws Me a Curve by Gennifer Choldenko. 225 p. Wendy Lamb Books/ Random House Children's Books, May 8, 2018. 9781101938133. 

Publisher synopsis: Return to Al Capone's Alcatraz with Newbery Honor-winning author Gennifer Choldenko in this charming addition to the beloved series about the son of a prison guard.

Moose Flanagan lives on a famous island in California: Alcatraz, home to some of the most dangerous prisoners in the United States in the 1930s. It's the summer before he starts high school, and Moose is going to play a lot of baseball and win a spot on the high school team. But he still needs to watch his special older sister, Natalie—and then the warden asks Moose to look after his two-faced, danger-loving daughter, Piper. 

In the cell house there are rumors that the cons will a strike, and that Moose's father might step up to a new job. Moose is worried: What will this mean for their family, especially for Natalie, who's had some scary run-ins with prisoners? Then the unthinkable happens: Natalie winds up someplace she should never, ever go. And Moose has to rescue her.

First Line: 1. Potty-Training a Snake

Tuesday, May 26, 1936

Even when you live on a prison island with crafty criminals plotting ways to knock you off, summer is the best time of year.

Page 56: 7. The Rule of Silence

Wednesday, May 27, 1936

I can smell the cake before I even open the door. Mom is in the living room, thumbing through the Sears catalog. When she looks up, she smiles at me. But then she sees Natalie. The catalog slips out of her hand and thuds to the rug. She gags.

      "Bea gave her a different hairstyle and a new birthday dress. Nat's really excited about it." I'm talking twice as fast as normal. I can't look my mom in the eye.

I am so-o excited by this surprise new entry in the Tales of Alcatraz series!