Melissa Espinal asked Gennifer Choldenko:

Hi! I wanted to tell you that even though i'm 31 years old, I enjoyed every page of your book! I'm so happy that my Professor gave me the second part of the series as a gift! Can't wait to read it! What made you write about a 12 year old living on the Alcatraz island? Also, what did your parents do to try and help your sister, Gina with Autism?

Gennifer Choldenko Hi Melissa,
I'm sorry I just saw this question. Thanks so much for the thumb's up. I love your professor by the way! I got the idea for Al Capone Does My Shirts from an article in the newspaper. The fact that kids lived on the island when it was a working penitentiary fascinated me.

As far as Gina is concerned, what didn't they do? Gina grew up quite a long time ago in what I call the Dark Ages of Autism. Most of what was known was one hundred percent wrong. The so-called experts were hopelessly misguided. My parents did their very best with her, but it was really really tough. Though we don't know nearly enough about Autism today, we are light years ahead of where we were when I was a kid.

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