My Life on the Rock The Alcatraz Schoolgirl is a series of vignettes about the life of a young girl growing to her teens in unique surroundings. She moved to the Island in June 1934 and resided there until 1944, after the death of her stepfather. In the book she shares her stories about boating to school, watching movies in the prison chapel on family movie night, frightening prisoner escape attempts, and how she and the other children lived and played on the grounds of a Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary.