The book I read for quarter three was “The Lost Boy”, by Dave Pelzer. This book is the sequel to the series of, “A Child Called It”. The author’s purpose of writing this novel was to show that God can give you any struggle in your life; however he will not give you any difficulty that you cannot handle. He has a plan for everybody, and it will all work out in the end. I feel that David tries to tell everyone who is reading the story that you should never give up on something even if it is the littlest things, because you are not the only one going through whatever your struggle may be. You have to put a smile on, even if you are feeling down on the inside. tThe theme of this book is basically to tell everyone the struggle he went through and to show that you are not alone and you can get through anything. Dave Pelzer was abused at a very young age growing up by his mother. It was harder each day for him and it felt to him like it never got better. If you try and get through the day, it is just one day closer to the ending of your situation or struggle you have going on in your life and I feel that this is the main theme throughout the whole novel. Throughout the whole story, the author tried to stay on the same topic about his life and how he was abused and to tell everyone how to get through things in a better way and stay strong. tThe style of this novel is narrative because the author is telling a story that happened to him at a young age. The author is trying to inform everybody his struggles he went through as a child. Dave Pelzer had it very hard as a young boy and it was defiantly not easy. Abuse is something that happens all over the world today. It is very cruel and unfair. Unfortunately, we live in a world where no matter what people do, it will never stop. Many children, teenagers and even adults have abuse in their life or have had it at a point in time. No matter whom you are, no human being deserves this and I really hope adults read this novel to see how unfair this is, and no child on Earth deserves it. tMy opinion on this book, it I thought it was extremely incredible and almost life- changing. When I read this story, and all the events that happened to him, I could feel the emotion through the book. I felt sadness, angriness, and even happiness because he was saved from the terrible events in his life. I liked everything about the book and how Dave wrote it and I would not change a single line in the story. The book that is similar to the sequel, “A Child Called It”. This is the story where he is a child and is going through the pain. I feel that we do not know how lucky we really are. We take things for granted and don’t know how much we really have. It is really sad to think that we have to have something bad happen to us, for us to realize what is sitting right in front of us. This book made me realize how blessed I am to have an amazing and supporting family who loves and cares for me each and every single day. No child should EVER have to go through abuse. Every person deserves a mother and a father that loves them. Everyone on Earth should have somebody who treats them right and should not be treated badly and I love how Dave Pelzer tells that in this story.
The second book in the Dave Pelzer trilogy is The Lost Boy, chronicling Dave’s life in foster homes from the age of twelve to eighteen. Again I have come to the end and feel immediately like I have to put a few other books in between this and the next and final book, A Man Named Dave. I don’t feel like another book is necessary but have decided to read it for the sake of completeness.At the start of the book, Dave insists this one is written using the language and perspective he had at that age. He also insisted the same thing in the last book. This is not a completely accurate description as many times I felt the writing to be reflective and also some of it beyond the years of the under-educated teenager he was at the time. We catch up with Dave where we left him in the last book, in the passenger seat of a police car heading outside the city limits, where after medical examinations he meets his social worker and is placed in the first of five foster homes.Living in a foster home is very different from where Dave has come from and throughout the years that follow he struggles to find his place in the homes and in school. He has a stint or two in a juvenile detention hall and is passed around a bit until he settles down and decides where he wants to go in life.More than anything I found this book to be a testament to the hard work of social workers and foster parents. Their job is far from easy and yet they strive to remove child from abusive homes and place them suitably, and provide them with the help they need. The part of the book I found most worth reading was after the Epilogue, the section entitled Perspectives on Foster Care which contained statements from Dave’s foster mother, a juvenile detention worker and a teacher. I found this to be an eye-opening view on the foster system and I appreciate the acknowledgement of foster carers and other authors of works on being a child in the foster system. If this content could be expanded further it would make for a great read on the work of foster carers and an insight to the foster system. Just maybe leave Dave Pelzer out. He’s got plenty of books under his belt already and we all know his perspective.As for the content itself, I enjoyed reading this book more than I did A Child Called ‘It’. But considering it is supposed to be an autobiographical memoir, some of the recollections from his life as described in the first book had facts that didn’t match up, which makes you question the credibility of the ‘memoir’. It could simply be due to the passage of time, he was only a child so of course he’s not going to remember everything and things get mixed up. I would have hoped that the editor would fix this up but clearly it wasn’t noticed or was ignored. These kind of things can be infuriating for a reader like me.A slight improvement. 2.5 stars.
What do You think about The Lost Boy (1997)?
It is such an inspiring and addictive book. I have really enjoyed reading it. The book was written in a child's viewpoints yet the language wasn't written in a childish way. As a reporter from “the times" said: “It is the cool tone that makes what he has to say even more compelling.” The book is about the author's real life. It is a sequel the two books; A Child Called It and A Man Named Dave. The book is about a boy named David who was abused by his own mother. It takes you through his life explaining all events in a very clear way. Throughout the book we see David suffer, yet he tends to overcome the obstacles.
—Shaikha_m_140A512
عندي هذا الكتاب منذ مدة طويلة ولم أعره اهتماماً قلت ربما يكون رواية فيها معاناة ولا أحب الروايات المأساوية أو ربما يكون كتبه أحد التربويين عن طفل متشرد ولا يختلف الأمر كثيراً في نظريولكن ما إن تناولته لم استطع تركه! فهو كما قلت قصة مأساوية ولكن من الكاتب؟ الطفل نفسهولكن بالطبع كبر وأصبح هو نفسه مستشاراً تربوياًوكتب هذه القصة لا أدري متى هل دون ملاحظات أيام طفولته التعيسة وهو في منتهى الشقاء أم من ذاكرته وهذا استبعده لأن الأحداث كتبت بتفصيل وتعبير كأنها تحدث الآن ولكن أن يدون الطفل الصغير هذه الملاحظات فهذا أبعد! .... عجيبعادة لا أحب الكتب المترجمة لضعف النقل وضياع اللغة الجميلة من النص إلا ما ندر وهذا منها، حيث جاءت الترجمة جيدة ولم أجدها تخل بالمعنى ولا بالعاطفةالكتاب رائع فإنك لا تشعر إلا وأنت تشارك الكاتب في قصته وتتنقل معه بين المواقف المختلفة وتحاول جاهداً النجاة وكأنك مكانه
—قصي بن خليفة
This is a continuation of the series from the book A Child Called It. This takes place after Mr. Pelzer is removed from his home and into foster care at the age of 12. The book starts off with a heart wrenching scene of the gross mistreatment to him by his mother. I couldn't even get through the first chapter without practically crying on the outside and screaming on the inside, "Why did this happen to him?" Throughout the book I wanted to know why his mother was such a monster and why did she single out Dave? A person would think that once a child is put into foster care that they would be safe from the one who tried to harm them, I found out that this is not always the case especially in the mid to late 70's. Even after being removed from the home, his mother tried to mentally abuse him by visiting him and letting him know that she would be watching him and if he messed up she would make sure that he would pay for his transgressions. The foster care system is a place of refuge for Dave and the families that he is placed with are kinder to him than his real parents. He had his issues and acted out on them because of the confusion he had on the inside, but he wasn't necessarily as bad or dangerous of a kid as he could have been due to the circumstances of his life. He was aggressive, but only to those who sought to harm him. He stole, in order to be accepted by others. He retreated into himself when he was in public forums because people treated him as an outsider. He hung out with the wrong crowd, but during all that time he never lost himself to the madness because he always knew what was right and eventually got himself back on track with the help of the foster parents around him. It was a good story, but being told from the child's POV continually left questions that were never answered because the details may or may not have been discussed with Dave, or it could be that children remember what they want to remember so some details are lost in the shuffle. The book goes from Dave being placed in foster care up until the time he phased out and entered the Air Force.
—Connie
