THE GLASS CAFE
Gary Paulsen
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
Fiction
ISBN: 0385324995
112 pages

Twelve-year-old Tony Henson is a skilled artist and his mother Alice is an exotic dancer at the Kitty Kat Club. Inspired by the backstage life of the club, Tony starts accompanying his mother to work and draws pictures of the dancers there. He gives some of the drawings to Ms. Klein, his art teacher. She thinks they are wonderful and submits them in an art contest.

One day while getting ready for work, Alice receives a call from the state government. The Social Services Agency has seen her son's pictures and are accusing her of letting Tony draw pornographic pictures of naked women. A few days later, she is arrested. Will Alice be proven to be an innocent and responsible mother, or will she be sent to jail?

If you enjoy reading books about family relationships that are complex and laced with issues that you may never excounter, but make you think, be sure to read THE GLASS CAFE to find out what happens to Tony and his mother!

   --- Reviewed by Ashley Hartlaub

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