The Glass Cafe or, The Stripper and the Sate: How My Mother Started a War With the System That Made Us Kind of Rich and a Little Bit Famous was written by Gary Paulsen and was published in 2003.
The Glass Cafe was written in the style of an autobiography, however, it was not written about Gary Paulsen. The main character is Tony or formally known as Anthony Henson. The whole story has been written from his perspective and through his voice.
Tony is your typical elementary age boy who likes a girl and has a good buddy. He is average in school and enjoys reading. He lives with his mother who is raising him all on her own (no help from the state or local agencies). Tony's mother works several nights a week but always makes him breakfast in the morning, puts him on the bus to school, is home when he gets home, helps him with his homework, and eats dinner with him before she goes off to work.
One day a teacher of his, an art teacher, has a discussion about artists. The teacher mentioned that many artists sharpened their skills by drawing the bodies of people, specifically women. Tony decided he was going to practice drawing so he could become a talented artist. With his mom's permission as well as all of her coworkers permission, Tony went to work with his mom and stayed in the rehearsal room. Ms. Henson worked at the Kity Kat Club and was an exotic dancer. With the club's permission, Tony sat in the rehearsal room and began drawing. The pencil drawings were simple yet told a story. He visited a few more times and completed approximately 10 drawings.
The drawings were given to his art teacher, the drawings were fantastic and submitted in an art show. Someone noticed the age of the artist and made a formal complaint to the child protective services agency. The agency over stepped their authority, things went bazerk in the court room, and through the settlement the Henson's life had changed a little bit. Ms. Henson no longer was an exotic dancer, she reentered the doctorate program, started to date Mr. Miller, and Tony is still a kid who likes to draw.
MY TWO CENTS WORTH
Gary Paulsen has to be one of my favorite all time authors. I can pick up one of his books and find myself easily lost within the setting and life's of his characters. He has a way of transporting you from your world into the created world of his words. Mr. Paulsen has a way with words that pull young male readers in. From my limited perspective, Gary Paulsen's main audience is the young male (ages 9-18) who not only struggle to read but don't like to read. He has a way with identifying with this audience and pulls them along.
The Glass Cafe was written in a different style of writing. Due to my lack of knowledge and/or writing exposure, I don't know the technical name for this style of writing. It was written as if it was an autobiography but it is not an autobiography. I guess I would classify this as a fictional autobiography.
The one piece that intrigued me in this book was the concept of The Glass Cafe. In the last chapter (chapter 6) when we were in the courtroom scene, Ms. Henson used The Glass Cafe concept in her defense. Although I know little about this concept or line of thought, I do know that the Glass Cafe was a place in Beirut, Lebanon where they served coffee and people came to listen to professional story tellers. These storytellers were highly skilled. As they would tell their story, they gathered information about audience and matched their story-telling to the needs and wants of the audience. They knew when to hesitate and hold their audiences at bay until the people would place money in their cups so the story would continue or come to an end. The Glass Cafe concept sounds more like the art of reading your audience and responding to their inner needs and/or unannounced desires. The art of the Glass Cafe is something many of us can use when working with an audience of any age.
The Glass Cafe was written in the style of an autobiography, however, it was not written about Gary Paulsen. The main character is Tony or formally known as Anthony Henson. The whole story has been written from his perspective and through his voice.
Tony is your typical elementary age boy who likes a girl and has a good buddy. He is average in school and enjoys reading. He lives with his mother who is raising him all on her own (no help from the state or local agencies). Tony's mother works several nights a week but always makes him breakfast in the morning, puts him on the bus to school, is home when he gets home, helps him with his homework, and eats dinner with him before she goes off to work.
One day a teacher of his, an art teacher, has a discussion about artists. The teacher mentioned that many artists sharpened their skills by drawing the bodies of people, specifically women. Tony decided he was going to practice drawing so he could become a talented artist. With his mom's permission as well as all of her coworkers permission, Tony went to work with his mom and stayed in the rehearsal room. Ms. Henson worked at the Kity Kat Club and was an exotic dancer. With the club's permission, Tony sat in the rehearsal room and began drawing. The pencil drawings were simple yet told a story. He visited a few more times and completed approximately 10 drawings.
The drawings were given to his art teacher, the drawings were fantastic and submitted in an art show. Someone noticed the age of the artist and made a formal complaint to the child protective services agency. The agency over stepped their authority, things went bazerk in the court room, and through the settlement the Henson's life had changed a little bit. Ms. Henson no longer was an exotic dancer, she reentered the doctorate program, started to date Mr. Miller, and Tony is still a kid who likes to draw.
MY TWO CENTS WORTH
Gary Paulsen has to be one of my favorite all time authors. I can pick up one of his books and find myself easily lost within the setting and life's of his characters. He has a way of transporting you from your world into the created world of his words. Mr. Paulsen has a way with words that pull young male readers in. From my limited perspective, Gary Paulsen's main audience is the young male (ages 9-18) who not only struggle to read but don't like to read. He has a way with identifying with this audience and pulls them along.
The Glass Cafe was written in a different style of writing. Due to my lack of knowledge and/or writing exposure, I don't know the technical name for this style of writing. It was written as if it was an autobiography but it is not an autobiography. I guess I would classify this as a fictional autobiography.
The one piece that intrigued me in this book was the concept of The Glass Cafe. In the last chapter (chapter 6) when we were in the courtroom scene, Ms. Henson used The Glass Cafe concept in her defense. Although I know little about this concept or line of thought, I do know that the Glass Cafe was a place in Beirut, Lebanon where they served coffee and people came to listen to professional story tellers. These storytellers were highly skilled. As they would tell their story, they gathered information about audience and matched their story-telling to the needs and wants of the audience. They knew when to hesitate and hold their audiences at bay until the people would place money in their cups so the story would continue or come to an end. The Glass Cafe concept sounds more like the art of reading your audience and responding to their inner needs and/or unannounced desires. The art of the Glass Cafe is something many of us can use when working with an audience of any age.
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