The bestselling author of more than a dozen books, Gennifer Choldenko is best known for her Tales from Alcatraz series, the first of which (Al Capone Does My Shirts) won a Newbery Honor in 2005. This young adult novel introduces the character of Moose Flanagan, a 12-year-old who lives on the Alcatraz prison island along with his parents and 16-year-old sister, Natalie, who has a developmental disability. Al Capone Does My Homework, the third book in the series, hinges on the promotion of Moose’s father from electrician to Alcatraz’s associate warden, which puts him and his family in increased danger. Choldenko has since written a fourth Alcatraz novel, which she says will probably be the last.

To her books’ carefully researched verisimilitude of 1930s Alcatraz, Choldenko adds some notes of autobiography. Though the Tales from Alcatraz series unfolds over 18 months in the years 1935 and 1936, some of its events harken back to Choldenko’s own childhood in 1960s Southern California, particularly a traumatic span of months when she was 12. Within less than a year, Choldenko lost her father, uncle, grandparents, and her sister, Gina, who had autism. These tragedies, she says, upended her life, emotionally stunting her for years at the age of 12.