53 pages 1 hour read

Gennifer Choldenko

Al Capone Does My Homework

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2004

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Chapters 22-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 22 Summary: “The Queen Falls”

Searching the neighborhood for Piper, Moose and Annie are surprised to find her sitting in front of Annie’s house since she had just been trying to avoid them. When Annie opens her front door, Piper runs to seat herself at the kitchen table. After ensuring that the rest of Annie’s family is away, she asks Annie if she can go to church with her on Tuesday, though she has not gone in many years. Cramming her mouth with chewing gum, she also asks if they can play Old Maid sometime. Then, spotting the Bominis’ newspaper on the table, she snatches it up and runs into the bathroom.

Sensing that her odd behavior has something to do with the “gifts” circulating on Alcatraz, Moose gently coaxes her into letting him in. Piper, her face streaked with tears, accuses him of not liking her anymore and then whispers that she did something she “shouldn’t have.” After making him promise to help her, she says that the money she has been flashing around did not come from her grandmother, as she had implied. Instead, she says, it was “magic”: Months ago, she accidentally left a dollar in her pocket on laundry day, and when it came back, it had turned into two dollars.