Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz so his dad can work as a prison guard and his sister, Natalie, can attend a special school. But Natalie has autism, and when she's denied admittance to the school, the stark setting of Alcatraz begins to unravel the tenuous coping mechanisms Moose's family has used for dealing with her disorder. When Moose meets Piper, the cute daughter of the Warden, he knows right off she's trouble. But she's also strangely irresistible. All Moose wants to do is protect Natalie, live up to his parents' expectations, and stay out of trouble. But on Alcatraz, trouble is never very far away. Set in 1935, when guards actually lived on Alcatraz Island with their families, Choldenko's second novel brings humor to the complexities of family dynamics and illuminates the real struggle of a kid trying to free himself from the "good boy" stance he's taken his whole life.

珍妮弗·乔尔登科（Gennifer Choldenko）来自一个热闹的大家庭，是家里四个孩子当中的老幺。“鼻涕虫”是她在家里的绰号。童年的大部分时光，她几乎都是骑着马在南加州的岩丘峭壁间探险。在珍妮弗还很小的时候，她奇特的幽默感已常常在晚餐餐桌上亮相。从此以后，只要是古怪、好笑的事物，都被她的家人称之为“珍妮弗式笑话”。　 珍妮弗毕业于布兰戴斯大学（Brandeis University），之后进入罗得岛设计学院（Rhode Island School of Design）学习插画。她创作的第一本绘本是《发狂：那只跳月亮的牛》（Moonstruck：The True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon）。美国《学校图书馆期进》（School Library Journal）称这本书“热闹非凡”；美国《国家教养中心》（National Parenting Center）也说这部作品“令人狂笑，肆无忌惮”；美国《出版人周刊》（Publisher’S Weekly）更说它让人“从头笑到尾”。