3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richie's Picks: THE GLASS CAFE, June 12, 2003
"So you know my name is Tony and I am twelve and my mother who is named Alice except nobody calls her that, they all call her Al, like she was a guy only she isn't, is a stripper, only it's called exotic dancing, at a place called the Kitty Kat, except that everybody calls it the Zoo on account of an animal act they used to have but don't anymore because the humane society said it was wrong to use snakes out of their "natural element" although Muriel, who danced with a seven-foot boa named Steve, swore that the snake slept through the whole dance except I know Steve who lives in the dressing room in a glass case and I can't tell if he's sleeping or not because he never closes his eyes."
THE GLASS CAFÉ (or THE STRIPPER AND THE STATE; How My Mother Started a War With The System That Made Us Kind of Rich and a Little Bit Famous), is such a captivating read aloud--truly a performance piece--that I have half a mind to return this morning for my third day of the IRA (International Reading Association) Convention and take a group of teachers (preferably middle school teachers) hostage so that I can have another audience with whom to share it. Fortunately, we have free nighttime minutes on our cellphone--Shari woke me up a little past midnight my/Orlando time (9:00 PM her/California time), which is when the free minutes begin, and like a jack-in-the box I bounced up out of bed, switched on the light, scooped up the book, and read twenty pages with nary a breath. This review will end shortly since, if I hurry, I can reach the Convention Center as they begin queuing up for the 9:00 opening time of the Exhibition Hall and corner a small crowd.
"I like school where I get pretty good grades in everything except gym and sometimes math when it doesn't make any sense to me like when we have to figure out two trains traveling at different speeds and which one will get to a place called Parkerville first. There is never a place called Parkerville in real life and hardly any trains go anywhere anymore and why would two trains be trying to get to a place called Parkerville in the first place? It's just silly."
Tony, the twelve-year-old narrator of THE GLASS CAFÉ (or THE STRIPPER AND THE STATE; How My Mother Started a War With The System That Made Us Kind of Rich and a Little Bit Famous), lives in Los Angeles, has a friend named Waylon, a girl he likes named Melissa, a penchant for dogs (which aren't allowed in their apartment building), and is an aspiring artist who "draws every chance I get." As he tells us the tale of what happened to him and Al, he includes a number of asides, explaining to us what he is doing in regard to his English teacher's instructions about writing a story:
"I'll talk more about that later after I do what Ms. Providge the English teacher calls 'developing the structure and character of the story.'
And I expect that adults who grab this book for a look, suspicious of having their middle school offspring read something with "STRIPPER" in the title will be rather surprised to discover the reality of Tony's mother, a single mom from whom many parents could learn a thing or two about parenting.
"...and sometimes when it's the worst day of my whole life and maybe Melissa is talking about somebody else or math is kicking my butt or I have a cold and the smog is making it worse Al can just laugh, a deep laugh that comes from way inside and I can't but smile and think of something good. Which makes what happened because of the drawings really, really stupid.
What the drawings are all about and what happened because of Tony's drawings are something you'll just have to find out for yourself...unless you happen to be one of the people in Orlando who I'll be cornering in about fifteen minutes.
Richie Partington...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WM's Glass Cafe Review, October 11, 2006
A Kid's Review
The Glass Café is about a boy named Tony who decides that he wants to be an artist. His art teacher tells him that some of the greatest artists ever drew the female body. Tony decides to try for himself. Tony's mom is an exotic dancer and Tony asks his mom, Al, if he can go to the club that she dances at and draw the other dancers if they allow him. His mom says that's fine and he draws pictures of the exotic dancers. When his art teacher sees these drawings, she enters them in an art contest and he wins. The pictures are displayed in a museum. Eventually a complaint is lodged against Al and Child Welfare comes to investigate. Then this innocent art project becomes a hilarious adventure.
I am an 8th grader and I liked this book.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't worry about your kids reading this one., December 31, 2005
I laughed all through this book and I'm an adult (although my wife sometimes will disagree with that). It is somewhat of a farce, but tells a great, funny story. The story of a mother doing what it takes to raise and defend her son is told from the son's viewpoint.
Although the mother is a stripper and the son does draw some nude dancers, there are no descriptions of nudity in the book. Those who are looking for that as a reason not to let their kids read the book won't find it.
Read it, you'll laugh. (Unless you're a total prude.)
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