Al Capone Does My Shirts: Chapters 1-6

by Gennifer Choldenko
In 1935, twelve-year-old Moose moves to Alcatraz Island with his parents and his autistic sister Natalie. With a little help from his new friend Piper, Moose learns to adapt to life at the notorious prison.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1-6, Chapters 7-12, Chapters 13-20, Chapters 21-32, Chapters 33-40
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. convict
    a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison
    The convicts we have are the kind other prisons don’t want.
  2. smithereens
    a collection of small fragments considered as a whole
    This is the dock guard tower, a popcorn stand on stilts where somebody’s dad sits with enough firepower to blow us all to smithereens.
  3. catwalk
    a narrow pathway high in the air
    The only guns on the island are up high in the towers or the catwalks, because one flick of the wrist and a gun carried by a guard is a gun carried by a criminal.
  4. affliction
    a cause of great suffering and distress
    “But at least I don’t have those big feet either. They’re an affliction, those feet.”
  5. morgue
    a building or room where dead bodies are kept before burial
    “First, we’re going to the morgue,” Theresa announces with a little skip.
  6. amnesia
    partial or total loss of memory
    Favorite word for murder: “Rub-out” — often in front of many witnesses who then develop “gangster amnesia."
  7. evasion
    the deliberate act of failing to pay money
    Sent to jail for: Tax evasion.
  8. warden
    the chief official in charge of a prison
    I get a sinking feeling in my gut. There were 237 electricians who applied for the job my dad got. If it were me, I’d have kept my mouth shut about having a daughter like Natalie. What if the warden doesn’t know about her?
  9. asylum
    a hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced people
    “Put her in an asylum, Helen. It’s the humane thing to do,” Mrs. McCraw said between bites of cinnamon nut cake.
  10. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    My mom turned ashen. She told Mrs. McCraw she wasn’t welcome in our home ever again.
  11. grisly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Even so, it’s strange how one side of the road is so different from the other — high society on the left, grim and grisly on the right.
  12. heinous
    extremely wicked or deeply criminal
    "...These are men who have been tried and convicted of the most heinous crimes imaginable — terrible men with nothing but time on their hands.”
  13. conniving
    good at tricking people to get something
    “You can never trust a con. Nobody came here for singing too loud in church. Do you know what the word conniving means?”
  14. horde
    a vast multitude
    “Number four: Do not speak to any outsiders about what goes on here. Don’t go shooting your mouth off about Al Capone. You say his name and hordes of reporters come crawling out of the woodwork ready to write stories full of foolish lies, dangerous lies. Know anything about Capone, Mr. Flanagan?”
  15. gangster
    a criminal who is a member of an association of criminals
    He’s a gangster from Chicago.
Created on Tue Nov 21 17:06:17 EST 2017 (updated Thu Jul 24 11:24:08 EDT 2025)

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