Breeanna Wolford
7 Jan 07
Pelzer, Dave. “The Lost Boy”. Deerfield Beach, Florida. Health Communications. 1997
Reason: I selected this book because I found “A Child Called It” extremely inspirational and decided to read up on a follow up that book. A child called it was truly a book that I will never forget, and so it the lost boy. This novel takes place in various locations, it starts out in Daly, California but it indefinitely changes settings quite often.
Plot: The main character in this book is David Peltzer as a younger boy. In this particular book he runs away form his alcoholic mother. He got rescued by his teachers because they knew that he was being abused. His mother would starve and torture him. At times she would lock him in the bathroom with a whole bunch of bleach and cleaning supplies that you aren’t supposed inhale for long periods of time. For six years, David Pelzer was sent to over ten different foster homes; sometimes returning to the same home twice. Dave’s one fear is that his evil mother would eventually find him again, it really did haunt him. Even after the court case when she pretends to be all nice and give him a bunch of his toys. He falls back in love with her during his court cause but he then learns that she was just acting, and what a good actress she was. A lot of families promise not to give up on him, but all of them eventually do. Throughout his years in foster care the one thing David yearns for is to see his Father. In the first book you learn that his Father was once a great man, a brave fire fighter, David’s “hero”. But after years of abuse and a living hell with David’s mother, he too had turned to drink and turned his back on David. There were several times when his father would make arrangements to come and visit David, but not once did he turn up. David would convince himself that it was he that had got the times wrong and not his dad that his dad would never let him down on purpose. For a short time (after the court hearing) David had some contact with his mother. She then decided that David was to have no contact at all with “her family”, she even changed her phone number so he could no longer cal her. As the years passed David had a continual urge to see his mother. There were questions that he had wanted to ask her for years. He needed to know “why”. What had he ever done for her to treat him so bad, why was he not good enough to be a member of “the family” like his brother’s were, why did she not “love him”, why was he “it”. David knew though that he would never get any answers from his mother, he was the problem as far as she was concerned and that would never change. At the end of high school he gets bad grades because he is too interested in joining the air force. He remains in the foster care system until he turns 18, when he joins the air force. No one was ever as proud of him as his “real” family was when he joined the air force-from that point forward he referred to him as Dave the Man.
Character: The character that I will choose for this is the father. David’s father. David’s dad was a proud fireman prior to all these things that happened in the family. He was a very accomplished man, with a lot of honor. When all of this stuff starts going down he slowly looses it. He becomes an alcoholic. He really doesn’t end up liking his wife, David’s evil mom. He eventually gets a divorce and moves to San Francisco. When Dave goes and visits him their he decides that this couldn’t be the father that he once knew, Dave was dumbstruck and upset.
Evaluation: I loved this novel, and I think it fit nicely after a child called it. I really liked the ending because it was reassuring that no matter what good can come from something. I figure that Dave will be used to the army because of the way that his mother treated him. This novel made me think about how messed up child abuse is, and how much I really hate it. I would recommend this book for everyone to read, because to an extent it’s definitely life changing.
This book definitely compares to real life because things like this happen all the time, and that is just really not cool. I hate to think that as I type this there are children being abused, it just really bothers me. I think everyone should read this book before they have kids.
If I was David I would have probably acted in the same way if I didn’t decide to run and get help. However, he was really young so I understand. I loved the ending of the book and I really thought that it was perfect. J
Author: This book is actually part of a trilogy and I’m only on book three now. I plan on doing that book for my next book report. David Peltzer is seriously an amazing author, but what is more ironic is that he is actually the main character in the book two. I don’t pity him though, I applaud him.