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.
