Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz so his dad can work as
a prison guard and his sister, Natalie, can attend a special school. But
Natalie has autism, and when she's denied admittance to the school, the
stark setting of Alcatraz begins to unravel the tenuous coping
mechanisms Moose's family has used for dealing with her disorder.
When Moose meets Piper, the cute daughter of the Warden, he knows right
off she's trouble. But she's also strangely irresistible. All Moose
wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations,
and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far
away.
Set in 1935, when guards actually lived on Alcatraz Island with their
families. Choldenko's second novel brings humor to the complexities of
family dynamics and illuminates the real struggle of a kid trying to
free himself from the good boy stance he's taken his whole life.