93 pages • 3 hours read
Al Capone Does My Shirts
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaChapters 23-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part Two
Chapter 23 Summary: She’s Not Cute
Tuesday, April 2, 1935
Scout and Moose get put together for a class project “and just like that [they’re] friends again” (135). Scout plans a baseball game at lunch. Later, he asks Moose for one of those convict baseballs and admits to Moose that he thinks Piper is cute. Moose will try to get a convict baseball before Piper can get Scout one instead. Moose disagrees about Piper’s cuteness; he thinks about Piper and Scout all afternoon and it troubles him greatly.
Moose takes Natalie outside with him to go look for baseballs. He notices that he is enjoying talking with her and is amazed when Natalie makes eye contact with him. Moose wonders whether this is because Mrs. Kelly is really helping. He tries to get Natalie to trudge through the bushes but she decides to play with rocks instead. His desire to find a baseball becomes an obsession: “I don’t want Piper to find a ball for Scout. I don’t know why, but I don’t” (139). Moose finds a gap in the fence, possibly caused by rain eroding the soil, but if he steps inside, Natalie will be out of his sight.
Chapter 24 Summary: Like a Regular Sister
Same day—Tuesday, April 2, 1935
Moose sees something in the grass and wants to have a closer look at it; however, he is having trouble crawling through the gap in the fence and he is fearful because he cannot see Natalie. He is torn between his desire to check on her and to go in and retrieve what he sees. When Moose finally gets through the fence, his search is fruitless.
He returns to Natalie, who hasn’t moved from her spot. She says the number “105” and Moose makes guesses at where it comes from. Rocks? Birds? Natalie lets him know that he is wrong.
Chapter 25 Summary: My Gap
Wednesday, April 24, 1935
Every day at school Moose plays baseball with Scout at lunch. Scout has not asked him anymore about finding a convict baseball but Piper has, repeatedly. Even though his search has turned nothing up, he has been enjoying his outings with Natalie. Their relationship has grown significantly: “We’re getting along, Nat and I. It’s peaceful to spend time with her out here. Sometimes I even tell her stuff that’s bothering me. I don’t know if she understands, but she’s quiet like she hears” (143).
In the afternoon, on the way to look for baseballs, Moose runs into Annie and Theresa, who are working on something. Theresa would like to come with Moose to look for balls, but she is too busy with her mystery project, so he and Natalie go alone.
Once he sets Natalie up in her usual spot, Moose takes his time to search the area thoroughly. He finds nothing and is really discouraged. When he returns to their spot, he finds that Natalie is gone.
Chapters 23-25 Analysis
Moose becomes possessive about his friendship with Scout and it bothers him immensely that Scout and Piper are spending time together. It is hard to know what bothers him exactly: Is he angry that the manipulative Piper is worming her way into his friend’s life or is he jealous that Scout is spending more time with her than with him? He desperately wants a friend so that he can confide in someone. He tries to talk to Natalie, but these one-sided conversations reveal the limitations of his growing relationship with her—while she is seemingly content to listen, he is not sure if she understands him.
Moose’s newfound problems at first seem to be a balm for the reader: He is facing typical teenage drama instead of coping with deeply upsetting familial upheaval. Sadly, then, as soon as his attention is occupied by worries about his friend Scout’s growing crush on Piper, and as soon as he lets himself think that Natalie is seemingly getting better, Moose lets down his guard about Natalie enough to put her in real danger. We do not know why she has disappeared, but it is clear that Moose should never have left her alone—nor would he have, if he weren’t trying to convince himself that she was suddenly functioning more neurotypically.
Unlock all 93 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Gennifer Choldenko
