Name:__________________________________________ Date:_____________________________________
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Chapters 11-20 questions
Chapter 11:
1. How does Mrs. Flanagan react to the news from Mr. Purdy? What does
she do that surprises Moose? She wants to pick up Natalie right away and
when Mr. Flanagan tells her she cannot go by herself, she becomes angry
and shoves Mr. Flanagan.
2. What happens when Moose and his mother get to Natalie’s school? Mr.
Purdy explains that Natalie’s behavior is too involved for them to handle.
Natalie is too loud for the residential area that the school is located in.
Moose and his mother take Natalie home.
3. What advice does Mr. Purdy offer with regard to Natalie’s future care and
treatment? Mr. Purdy suggests placing Natalie into Deerham, which is an
asylum.
4. Why is Moose both proud and angry with his mother? Moose is proud of
his mother for standing up to Mr. Purdy and pushing him for information
that will help Natalie. He is also angry with her, because he knows that his
mother will do anything, no matter how ridiculous it is, just as she has
done in the past to help Natalie.
Chapter 12:
5. Why is Theresa staying with Bea Trixle? Theresa’s mother is in the
hospital having her baby.
6. Why does Moose agree to help Piper with her laundry scheme by talking
to his classmates about Alcatraz? Now that Natalie is home, he is afraid
that Piper will tell her father. Moose agrees to help Piper when she
promises to be nice to Natalie.
7. How does Moose and Piper’s classmates respond to the new laundry
service? After Moose entertains his classmates with stories from Alcatraz,
and Piper is able to convince Del to send a shirt, the laundry service is a
success.
Chapter 13:
8. What does Moose catch Piper doing outside his apartment door the
morning after Piper has taken the students’ clothing home? Moose
catches Piper placing the kid’s laundry into his family’s laundry bags.
9. Explain what Mrs. Kelly has told Moose’s mom to do for Natalie. Mrs.
Kelly has told Moose’s mom that Natalie needs a clean sweep; throw away
the button box, not allow her to count obsessively, no more other
obsessions. If the family can change their ways, it will help Natalie change.
10. What sacrifice must Moose make to help Natalie? How does he feel about
it? Moose must sacrifice his Mondays playing baseball so that he can
watch Natalie while his mother gives piano lessons in the city. Moose is
supposed to take Natalie everywhere he goes, every day after school.
Chapter 14:
11. What happens when Moose asks Scout if the Monday baseball games
could be moved to Tuesdays? Scout seems to understand Moose’s
problem and tells him that he will try to get the games moved to Tuesday.
12. What interests Scout more than having his shirts washed by the convicts?
How does Moose promise to help with this? Scout would rather have or
see a baseball hit over the wall at Alcatraz by a convict. Moose tells Scout
that if he gets one, he will show it to Scout free and clear.
Chapter 15:
13. Why does Annie tell Moose to meet her and the others at the parade
grounds? They are planning to go to a secret spot to watch the convicts on
their way back to the cell bock.
14. When Moose gets home, what is strange about Natalie? Since the weather
is hot, Natalie is pacing and pulling at her dress as though she is
uncomfortable. She is also upset because she misses her buttons, which
Mrs. Flanagan has hidden from her.
15. What does Natalie do that totally embarrasses Moose? After Moose tells
her she cannot wear her swimsuit on Alcatraz like she did at home, she
strips off her swimsuit and lies in the floor.
16. How does Moose get Natalie into her clothes and out of the door? Moose
allows her to take her button box and promises to take her swimming.
17. Why does Moose stay behind when Piper and Annie move closer to see
the convicts? Moose doesn’t go closer for two reasons, he can’t take
Natalie and he is also very concerned about getting in trouble.
Chapter 16:
18. How does Piper explain the amount of laundry she is taking to school to
Mr. Trixle? She explains that there is a city-wide science project going on
about the ratio of the weight of wet cloth to dry cloth. The explanation
satisfies Mr. Trixle.
19. What does Scout tell Moose about playing baseball? Scout has been able
to arrange a game for them on Tuesday.
20. How do the students react when Piper passes out the laundry? What
happens to Piper’s laundry business? They are not happy that it just looks
clean. Most want their money back, but Piper tells them that there are no
refunds. When Del tells her he will not send any more of his laundry,
Piper tells them that this was a one time deal and they should be happy to
have had such a wonderful opportunity.
Chapter 17:
21. When Moose gets home, he doesn’t mention to his mom that the baseball
game has been changed to Tuesday. How does this oversight cause
problems for Moose? Moose’s mom has to change her piano classes to
Tuesdays. If he had told her, she might have been able to work something
out, but since he didn’t, Moose will have to watch Natalie and miss the
baseball game.
Chapter 18:
22. What does Piper tell Moose about the money earned from the laundry
service? Piper tells Moose he will not receive any of the money when they
divvy up the earnings from the laundry service.
23. When Moose tells Scout about not being able to play on Tuesday, what
happens? Scout gets angry and tells Moose he will never play on his team
again.
Chapter 19:
24. At the dock, when Piper is divvying up the money from the laundry
scheme, how does Piper use Natalie? Piper uses Natalie as a calculator.
25. How does the warden find out about Piper’s laundry service? Del’s
mother finds out about the laundry scheme from Del and writes a letter to
the warden. In her letter she threatens to send a letter to the news papers
and the mayor’s office if anything like this happens again.
26. How does the warden react to the news of Piper’s laundry service? What
does Natalie reveal that causes the warden to become even more
outraged? The warned treats the kids as if they are criminals. Even
Moose, who got none of the money and wasn’t really in on the scheme is
treated meanly. The warden seems to ignore the fact that Piper is
involved, much less that she masterminded it, even though the kids all tell
him she was behind it. Natalie reveals that the kids had made money on
the operation which further enrages the warden.
27. What does the warden mean when he tells the children: “There may come
a time in your life when you feel it’s your moral authority to challenge a
rule”? The warden is telling the children that at some point in their life
they may feel that a rule is wrong or should be questioned.
28. If the kids are caught doing something wrong again, what could this mean
for their families? Their families will be out of a plce to stay because their
fathers will be fired without a severance packages (without pay). Due to
the depression this would be especially hard on the families because of
the lack of available jobs, their fathers would have a difficult time finding
work to support their families.
Chapter 20:
29. What happens when Moose and the kids get back to the parade grounds
and dock? Natalie heads to get her buttons, Jimmy goes back to playing
with his machine, Theresa puts on her skates, and Annie and Moose kick a
can around. Moose kicks the can in the wrong directions, and it lands in
Natalie’s buttons, causing her to freeze up. Moose’s mother finds them
there.
30. Because of the situation with Natalie, Moose doesn’t get a chance to tell
his father what has happened with the warden. How does Mr. Flanagan
react when Mr. Trixle comes to tell him what has happened? Mr. Flanagan
takes Moose outside and questions him about what had gone on. When he
learns that Moose had known what was going on and not told, he is very
angry.
31. Moose thinks that if his father loses his job, his family will simply go back
to the life they had before coming to Alcatraz. What does Mr. Flanagan tell
Moose will happen if he loses his job? If Moose’s dad loses his job, they
will have nowhere to go. Their life is now at Alcatraz and there is no going
back.
32. How is Moose punished for his involvement in the laundry scheme? Mr.
Flanagan punishes Moose by taking his baseball equipment and tells
Moose if he gets into any more trouble, Moose will never play baseball
again.