Homework Help

AL CAPONE DOES MY HOMEWORK: A TALE FROM ALCATRAZ by Gennifer Choldenko. Dial, August 2013.

Moose is back. No, not back on Alcatraz. He never left there. But back in another mystery set on Alcatraz in the 1930s during the reign of Al Capone in the prison. Now that his father has been promoted to Associate Warden, there are many on the island who are not happy, prisoners and other workers included. When the family's apartment catches fire, Moose believes it might have been set by someone with an ax to grind. But there are others who think Moose's sister, Natalie, is to blame. Moose must clear his sister's name. Can he get some help from Mr. Capone? While this third installment of the Al Capone stories stands on its own, readers will enjoy reading the other two: AL CAPONE SHINES MY SHOES and AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS.

First Love

LOVE AND OTHER PERISHABLE ITEMS by Laura Buzo. Knopf, 2012.

Amelia is shy of her 15th birthday but already hard at work as a checker in a grocery store. She is the baby here, too young for most of the activities the other employees enjoy on their time off. But she is still old enough to be smitten with Chris, a uni student who shows her the ropes. It takes only la little encouragement from Chris for Amelia to fall in love with him. Told in alternating voices (Amelia and Chris through his notebooks), this story of first love rings true in its emotional depth.