Al Capone Does My Shirts

Gennifer CholdenkoFiction | Novel | Middle Grade

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Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part One

Chapter 10 Summary: Not Ready

Same day—Monday, January 7, 1935

After Moose returns home from school, he answers a call from the Esther P. Marinoff School. Mr. Purdy, the headmaster, informs Moose that his parents will need to pick Natalie up that evening because she is not settling in at all. Moose asks Mr. Purdy how he can tell that Natalie is not ready for the school when she has only been there for 36 hours. Mr. Purdy says that “these things become clear rather quickly” (61).

When Moose hangs up the phone, his mom sees the sad look on his face and assumes it is because he misses Natalie. Moose wakes his dad up and tells him about the phone call from Mr. Purdy. Cam decides to “take it from here” (63).

Chapter 11 Summary: The Best in the Country

Same day—Monday, January 7, 1935

Moose’s mother barely reacts to the news that they must pick Natalie up, except to demand that they leave immediately. Cam cannot come because he has to work, and so Moose goes with his mother.

Moose lists the many other ways they have tried to “figure out” Natalie: “heat treatments and before that the aluminum formula and before that UCLA” (64-65). All of these treatments failed, and UCLA advised Helen to “donate [Natalie’s] brain to science when she dies” (65).