Foreshadowing In Al Capone Does My Shirt

What is foreshadowing? Foreshadowing means caution ahead of time before a certain event in the story (dictionary.com). Foreshadowing is used in most stories to help move along the main idea as well as create a suspenseful plot. In the book Al Capone Does My Shirts there is an abundance of examples of foreshadowing throughout the text. These examples include Moose being warned about the rules from the warden, the introduction of the character Natalie, and Piper causing trouble for Moose.
The warden warning moose about the rules shows foreshadowing because it leaves me to believe that he will at some point break the rules and get caught. The way the warden speaks about Al Capone makes Moose anxious to even mention him. During school, Piper begins to speak about Al Capone and his gang making Moose think, “And now if I don’t talk about Alcatraz, I’ll look like a chump” (Big for Seventh Grade, ch. 7, pg. 45). Moose in the end breaks one of the warden’s most

In chapter 6, Sucker, Moose says, “ Piper waves like she is the sweetest girl next door. For a second I almost believe her. That’s how good she is” (pg. 41). I can tell that Piper is not who she pretends to be and will most likely involve Moose in a scheme she has or get him into trouble for something that she does. She breaks her father’s rule of speaking about Al Capone and having Moose work with her on a special project she has. Her “project” is to get money by using the convicts to do laundry for their classmates without the warden knowing.
In the novel Al Capone Does My Shirts I think it has just the right amount of foreshadowing. The author gives the right amount of clues to help you guess of what is going to come next with each person’s story. In the 12 chapters that I have read so far, I have only been able to guess three times of what might happen next. Since I started to read this book, I have really enjoyed