The Tuesday Cafe

Harper Winslow #1

by Don Trembath

His parents don't seem to understand what is going on in his life at all. He's not doing well at school. And a juvenile court judge has just ordered him to write a 2000-word essay on how he's going to turn his life around.

Now his mother has enrolled him in a writing class called The Tuesday Cafe, but it's not the kind of class she expected.

It all started with a small fire in a garbage can. Unfortunately, the garbage can was in the hallway of Harper's school and...

The Tuesday Cafe is the first of four books in the Harper Winslow series.
Book two is A Fly Named Alfred.
Book three is A Beatiful Place on Yonge Street.
Book four is The Popsicle Journal.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Canada

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1996

Reviews

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for school. Meh.

[Abdur]

I CANT EVEN READ IT

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ass. Hated the mom, hated the dad, basically hated everyone but Harper.

[amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 . Cute story about the importance of communicating with your parents instead of acting out. I laughed a few times and liked the plot.

[Ikhlas Kahssay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for a school project so it was 'meh'. The essay at the end wasn't bad but I literally had to drag myself read it😭If there was a second book, I would absolutely NOT read it.
2⭐

[♡♥Sumi♥♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a good book. The characters are plausible, They react and think like someone real. The novel is interesting.
The cover page, isn't really eye catching and doesn't suite the story. The story sometimes gets boring. And the author at some places put in too many details.

The story starts with Harper Winslow, a teenage guy, starting a fire in the garbage can in the hallway if his school. His sentence, given to him by the juvenile court judge, is to write a 2000 word essay on how he's going to turn his life around.
His parents aren't understanding what's going on in his life at all.He is not doing well at school and his mother has enrolled him in a writing class, but what she doesn't know is that the writing class is geared towards adults with special needs, learning disabilities, or those wanting to improve their literacy skills.Surprisingly, Harper, who has felt ignored by his super successful and busy parents, comes to feel at home in the class of adults, most of whom would be considered failures by society. They accept him as who he is. Harper realizes that he can do thing to deal with his unhappiness.
A the end of the book Harper hands in a well written 2000 word essay.

[Martyna Mėnulė · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, a wholesome story. But is it realistic? I dont know. Not always a simple talk can save your life completly, it does a lot but its part of a big project. It seemed like that author tells us that family, school, law problems can be solved very quickly and easily, all the emotional baggage disapears after a little letter. Call me pessimistic, but i dont believe in that. Some of Harpers parents stories did seem problematic beyond just not being close to him. But anyway the sweet scenes did succeed in making me a little emotional and if that happens i consider a book success. But dont take my word for it, read it yourself.

🇱🇹
Knyga man patiko. Tačiau kiek realistiška nežinau. Ne visada paprastas pokalbis gali pilnai sutvarkyti viską, jis LABAI padeda tačiau tai tik dalis didesnio paveikslo. Atrodė jog autorius bando pasakyti jog šeimos, mokyklos ir įstatymo problemos išsprendžiamos labai lengvai, nepaisant milžiniškų emocinių problemų ir su mažu laiškučiu gali viską sutaisyti pirštų suspragsėjimu. Gal aš pesimistė. Kai kurios situacijos tarp tėvų ir Harperio atrodė rimtesnės, ne vien iššauktos nebendravimo. Tačiau mielos scenos man sušildė širdį ir jeigu knyga sugeba paliesti mane iš vidaus laikau ją pasisekuse. Tačiau neturite klausyti manęs, patys perskaitykite.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

About: Harper, a misunderstood fifteen-year-old kid who, accidentally, almost burned down the school. As part of his sentence, he was required to hand in a two-thousand-word essay about how he's going to turn his life around. To help him, his mother enrolled him in the Tuesday Cafe.

Pros: The story was believable and it was interesting. It wasn't boring. It also had a really good message. Thumbs up to the author for that.

Cons: It was a bit short, but I guess that's not so much of a bad thing. There were a few sentences in the book, though, which I'm not sure are grammatically correct. I'm not sure. (Oh! The cover looks like it could use some help as well. Haha.)

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for anyone, especially teens. It follows a 15 year-old, Haper Winslow, who feels misunderstood. He has just been ordered by the court to write an essay on how he is going to turn his life around. He feels like an outsider everywhere, even at home, so he avoids people. We follow Harper to his writing class, were he learns to share his work and ultimately his life with others. Don Trembath writes a realistic story capturing teen angst and family dynamics very well. I was engaged with these characters and read the book in one sitting.

[Betsie Bush · Rating 1 out of 5]

2018 Reading Challenge - Cover I Hate.

Not only did I hate the cover, I really didn't like the book either. I loved the concept of this story, but I was annoyed way too much by the portrayal of the judge and the kid's parents. I definitely understand that the message is that kids need to take responsibility for their own problems (e.g. be nice to your parents and they will be nice to you), but this was more a competition between victim blaming, white privilege, and disability porn. The 90s weren't long enough ago for me to say, "Oh, that's just how things were back then."

[Marshalocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read for young adults and up. You can't help but cheer for Harper. Some great lessons and a fun read.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure (Books for Young Children) follows the title because this actually quite a good teen novel.

[Thezza Baluyos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a nice book to read if you're into coming-of-age stories. It talked about the hypocrisy of adults and relayed the thoughts of a misunderstoof teenager.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dated, unfortunately, but still a very satisfying read.