I read this poolside during our SoCal vacation -- and I was pleasantly surprised.

Moose's family moves to Alcatraz where his dad has taken a job as an electrician. He has a "younger" sister who has autism and the family is trying to get her into a special school.

If you think about it there are so many parts of the story that are heart-wrenching . . . the author does an amazing job of making emotional connections with each character. You can see the grief cycle in each member: anger, denial, bargaining, etc. I also loved how she showed Natalie, the sister, as a real person -- one of the few books I've read with a disabled character that really shows you the person inside.

I really felt like I was on the island with them, as well. Having it set on Alcatraz is really cool and you learn a lot about the island in the 1930s -- and of course, it's funny!

After I read the book I just told Darik, "Wow. I love that children's literature can be this good and be entertaining and yet handle "adult issues" (autism, growing up, family relationships, etc.) better than adult literature can a lot of times."