Weird Stories from the Lonesome Cafe.

by Judy Cox, Diane Kidd (Illustrator)

Ten-year-old Sam is spending the summer in the middle of Nevada, working at the remote Lonesome Café. And the Help Wanted sign in the window brings some very strange visitors--Bigfoot, Elvis, a jolly fat man from the North Pole, and a young girl and her dog who blow in on a tornado from Kansas. And then there's the spaceship that crashes nearby and its little green passenger. . . . Sam is kept busy distracting the nosy TV news team so they don't discover the identities of the odd visitors, but it's not easy. Come along for a visit to the Lonesome Café--it's the place to be.

Genres: Childrens

72 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Author of children's books

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A kid stays with his uncle for the summer. The uncle is a writer who thinks he needs quiet to write, so he buys a cafe out in the Nevada desert.

Strange people keep visiting the cafe, and find jobs!

A lot of fun for kids.

[Kim Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute story! 10-year-old Sam and his uncle Clem have moved to Nevada and opened the Lonesome Cafe. Clem needs some peace and quite in order to write a book. Trouble is, nothing ever happens at the Lonesome Cafe to write about...or does it? Who are these stange people that come to the cafe? Is that really Elvis? or Santa Claus? Weird and Amazing things are happening at the cafe and Channel 54 is investigating!

I really liked this short(72 pages) book. It was funny without being stupid. This would be a great book for relunctant readers as it is fast paced and quick to read. Everyone enjoys a good laugh. Recommended for 3rd grade and up.

Readalikes would be the Wayside School series.

[Holly Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy named Sam and his Uncle Clem, who move to Nevada for some peace and quiet so Uncle Clem can write a book. They run the Lonesome Cafe, where Uncle Clem thinks that nothing happens. However, Sam knows that when you look closer, things are not always as they seem.

This is an entertaining book. I kept laughing out loud as I was reading it. Some students will find this book funny and fun to read.

I would use this book in my class to get my students interested in reading books of this genre. I would also use it to teach my students about looking at the world surrounding them and finding excitement in their everyday lives.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so much fun! Sam is spending the summer with his Uncle at the Lonesome Cafe. Business is very slow except for the exceptional customers they get from time to time.

It's an excellent suggestion for early elementary readers: funny, not too hard but just hard enough, and did I mention, FUNNY! The book would also be a fun read aloud. You could have the kids guess the true identity of each of the cafe's customers.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun book I read w/ my third grade reading group. We all enjoyed the book!

[Illey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now, this is a great story for children. It introduces so many characters that it was trying to gues who it was beforehand. I enjoyed this story greatly.

[Chinook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and funny.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A silly and fun story about writing... or, NOT writing! The narrator (Sam) describes his life working with his Uncle Clem, who gets a diner in Nevada for inspiration for a book, but SOMEHOW he cannot see all the weird visitors they get for who (or what) they really are, then complains that nothing happens there to inspire him to write!

The cover is a spoiler, except for "El" (who I somehow couldn't guess until it was revealed in the illustration), so unfortunately most of the surprise of reading is taken away, though it's still amusing to read HOW it happens. It's also a bit more absurd than presents: Clem and Sam aren't very good at running a diner—hence needing to hire help immediately—so why did they jump right into running a whole restaurant? Especially since Sam is only working there for the two months before school starts??

(Sure, it's Nevada, where there's NOBODY, but they still struggled to feed THREE people who happened to show up! With runs to pick up bread a *two-hundred-mile round trip*?!)

I like but don't LOVE the story. It's a fun way to spend a few minutes of leisure time, but I don't know that it would be anyone's ABSOLUTE FAVE or anything, especially on a re-read. It's still fun to read once, though!

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whimsical and cute.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is soooooooo cute!

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

B. fiction, children's fiction, lower elementary; tall tale, boy meets fictional characters; from stash, keep to give away

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book. Found it years ago, I have bought it multiple times. I think it's very cute and I still read it at least once a year at 25 years old.

[Itasca Community Library]

Ten-year-old Sam is spending the summer in the middle of Nevada, working at the remote Lonesome Café. And the Help Wanted sign in the window brings some very strange visitors–Bigfoot, Elvis, a jolly fat man from the North Pole, and a young girl and her dog who blow in on a tornado from Kansas. And then there’s the spaceship that crashes nearby and its little green passenger. . . . Sam is kept busy distracting the nosy TV news team so they don’t discover the identities of the odd visitors, but it’s not easy. Come along for a visit to the Lonesome Café–it’s the place to be.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike other reviewers, I thought this was just okay. For me, I thought it a tad contrived, from the "characters" that came into the cafe to the "kid-knows-what's-going-on-but-the-adult-doesn't" theme that ran throughout the whole book. However, that being said, I think younger readers would probably really like both those aspects of the book immensely and like being in on the joke, so to speak.

[Ajay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it had different characters from other books like Big Foot, Santa Claus, aliens, and Dorothy. However, it should have been longer because it could have told stories about new characters. I didn't like the way this book ended.

[Barb Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little book for the independent reader - a fun read aloud as well.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely fun to read aloud.

[Kristen Fort · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this while substituting a fourth grade group of special ed students. So, too juvenile for my tastes, but the students enjoyed it.

[Kathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

great 2nd grade read-aloud