Living Next Door To Al Capone

 

What would it be like to live on an island that houses the maximum security prison, Alcatraz, where ruthless criminals such as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly are incarcerated?

 

Twelve year-old Moose Flanagan and his family have moved to Alcatraz Island in 1935, where Moose's father can work as a prison guard in Alcatraz, and his older sister, Natalie, can attend a school for kids with special needs. Moose finds a host of challenges awaiting him: the adjustment to having a prison in the immediate vicinity, helping his autistic sister, and the navigation of a wary friendship with the warden's daughter, Piper, whose schemes get all of the island kids in trouble.

 

This is an outstanding work of historical fiction that is engaging and funny. Be sure to read the two sequels Al Capone Shines My Shoes and Al Capone Does My Homework.

Choices Of The Heart

 

How does one choose between two loves? How does one choose between a predetermined path and one not yet known? In our society these choices are constantly and successfully faced and resolved. However, in Matched, by Ally Condie, a stunning and thought-provoking dystopian novel which is the first of a trilogy, teenager Cassia Reyes is a dutiful citizen of the Society. Society Officials make all the choices for its inhabitants: occupation, future mate, diet, recreational activities, and more. At first, Cassia is delighted when it is revealed at her Match Banquet that her best friend, Zander, has been chosen as her life's partner. However, these carefully laid plans are thrown into turmoil when she loads her Match microchip into her home portal screen, and to her utter shock, sees another boy on the screen as her match - Ky Markham, a mysterious arrival to her community. Is this a mistake, or is a more sinister force at work? As Cassia begins to fall in love with Ky, and begins to rebel against the confines of her world, she realizes that her heart will lead her on a remarkable journey that will forever change her life and the lives of those she loves. Be sure to read the next two installments Crossed and Reached.