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188th out of 1,434 books
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The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family (Dave Pelzer #2)
by
Dave Pelzer
Imagine a young boy who has never had a loving home. His only possesions are the old, torn clothes he carries in a paper bag. The only world he knows is one of isolation and fear. Although others had rescued this boy from his abusive alcoholic mother, his real hurt is just begining -- he has no place to call home.
This is Dave Pelzer's long-awaited sequel to A Child Called
...morePaperback, 340 pages
Published
August 1st 1997
by Health Communications
(first published May 31st 1994)
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25th out of 321 books
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The Lost Boy, written by bestselling author David Pelzer, is about David’s own struggle in foster care. In this book, David has a conflict internally and externally. The internal conflict is how he feels sad and worthless after all those early years of abuse. The external conflict is between David and his mother. When David was about seven to nine, he excessively abused by his mother. Therefore, with the frequent visits she pays him at his different foster homes, she acts as though he is still w...more
"The Lost Boy" is the sequel to "A Child Called It," and it continues where the first memoir left off. This, the second installment, takes the reader through the author's years in foster care after being taken away from his sadistic mother. It is refreshing to hear positive commentary on the foster care system, since most of what is reported is horrible. Dave's strength, perseverence, and unshakeable spirit are extremely inspiring, and it is heartbreaking to learn of his expe...more
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I had to read this one after The Child Called It. It was also compelling and opened my eyes to the foster care system.
There Is Always Hope
This book was a very interesting and good book. It told me alot about how some kids just dont have the life they want. Alot of kids don't know how to appreciate something until they grow up. This book was about a little boy who had gotton beat all of his life. His mom doesn't treat him like a mom is suppose to: with care. She calls him names and mean things a mother shouldn't say Dave was the little boys name. I learned alot from this book. Soemtimes I think I'm living in hell and i don't learn ...more
A truly amazing story of Dave Pelzer, the little boy who was viciously abused by his mother. Again, I can’t come close to understanding the viciousness of this woman and how she could treat her own son this way. It is truly amazing that Dave survived and became successful as he did. Dave is so right about Foster Care and the System. I met a woman at work who became a Foster Parent and I truly looked at her in a different light. It takes an extraordinary person to commit themselves to someth...more
The sequel to A Child Called "It", this book tells the story of Dave Pelzer's boyhood in foster care.
By writing this first person account of what it's like to try to reenter the real world after surviving the 3rd worst abuse case in California (ever), Pelzer demonstrates that escaping from abuse is really only the beginning of the journey. The book is about the process of moving past that: learning to be a child, an adult; finding love and acceptance, from ones self and from...more
By writing this first person account of what it's like to try to reenter the real world after surviving the 3rd worst abuse case in California (ever), Pelzer demonstrates that escaping from abuse is really only the beginning of the journey. The book is about the process of moving past that: learning to be a child, an adult; finding love and acceptance, from ones self and from...more
I looked to this book with hope and for answers to the many questions raised by A Child Called It. It did not deliver on either count. Peltzer focused on the trouble he made, the bad decisions he made and the hopelessness of that time in his life. Now, there is not doubt his transition and healing was a difficult and very long process, but I still would have liked to hear more about the positive times he had with his foster families, the things he worked through in therapy and some of the good ...more
Dave Pelzer- A Child Called “It” and The Lost Boy (Health Communications Inc. 1995) 4.75 Stars
For Dave Pelzer life was so perfect. They had a happy family and enjoyed fun outings, until one inexplicable day things changed. Suddenly Dave wasn’t worthy of a name, food, a proper bed, or new clothes. He became the beating child who went without food most days. His struggle to survive took all of his being and he had to learn to steal what food he got. Just getting through the day was all h...more
For Dave Pelzer life was so perfect. They had a happy family and enjoyed fun outings, until one inexplicable day things changed. Suddenly Dave wasn’t worthy of a name, food, a proper bed, or new clothes. He became the beating child who went without food most days. His struggle to survive took all of his being and he had to learn to steal what food he got. Just getting through the day was all h...more
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This describes his life from age 12-18 - and how he became a ward of the state, and what it was like for him.
Although the author strikes me as having heavy optimistic/idealistic leanings (which although wonderful and probably what helped him survive and thrive... can be a little suspect), I liked his first-person experience account of how in his case the foster care system did work. He touched on the fear some of these children/young adults must feel once they turn 18 and now are ...more
Although the author strikes me as having heavy optimistic/idealistic leanings (which although wonderful and probably what helped him survive and thrive... can be a little suspect), I liked his first-person experience account of how in his case the foster care system did work. He touched on the fear some of these children/young adults must feel once they turn 18 and now are ...more
The Lost Boy, a memoir by Dave Pelzer, is a depressing and great book to read. After being constantly abused physically and mentally by his alcoholic, lunatic mother, he was finally out of the family. Dave, the protagonist, was finally free from his mother, or is he? Though under legal rights, Dave is no longer the son of the lunatic mother, she still comes and haunts him in his dreams. What he feared most is that his mother always win, and he feared that his mother would be coming back and...more
Reading Response #16
I fell in love with this book. It was amazing. This book is a sequel to the first book called 'The Child Called It'. Some kids, teens or adults are afraid to talk about their abusive childhood past. The author does an autobiography about his past, how his mother made him drink washing detergent and make him vomit food. I cannot even imagine that this could even happen. Pelzer's father never bothered to help his own son, I cried when I read this book. It shocked me...more
I fell in love with this book. It was amazing. This book is a sequel to the first book called 'The Child Called It'. Some kids, teens or adults are afraid to talk about their abusive childhood past. The author does an autobiography about his past, how his mother made him drink washing detergent and make him vomit food. I cannot even imagine that this could even happen. Pelzer's father never bothered to help his own son, I cried when I read this book. It shocked me...more
To me this book was sad because i couldnt believe that a mother would treat her own flesh and blood like an animal.I couldnt believe that a mother would hurt her child the way david pelzer mother hurt him for so many years.I feel that this book is a good way to get children that are going through some of the things that david go through out of this situation.This book an so many ways could be helpful because at the very end of the book theres like an phone book of numbers that can be of some hel...more
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 نظري
ولكن ما إن تناولته لم استطع تركه! فهو كما قلت قصة مأساوية ولكن من الكاتب؟ الطفل نفسه
ولكن 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...more
قلت ربما يكون رواية فيها معاناة ولا أحب الروايات المأساوية أو ربما يكون كتبه أحد التربويين عن طفل متشرد ولا يختلف الأمر كثيراً في نظري
ولكن ما إن تناولته لم استطع تركه! فهو كما قلت قصة مأساوية ولكن من الكاتب؟ الطفل نفسه
ولكن 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...more
Derek Hunter
Ms. Romaniuk
Reading/L.A. Book Review #6
7 December 2010
The Lost Boy
A desperate boy in need for a home
Both emotional yet suspenseful The Lost Boy is by the author Dave Pelzer, The Lost Boy is an autobiography based in Daly City, California. The main characters are David Pelzer, Mrs. Pelzer, Alice, Aunt Mary, the Catanzes family, Nulls family, Jones family, Walsh family, and Ms. Gold. In this book David, had escaped his abusive and alcoholic mother...more
Ms. Romaniuk
Reading/L.A. Book Review #6
7 December 2010
The Lost Boy
A desperate boy in need for a home
Both emotional yet suspenseful The Lost Boy is by the author Dave Pelzer, The Lost Boy is an autobiography based in Daly City, California. The main characters are David Pelzer, Mrs. Pelzer, Alice, Aunt Mary, the Catanzes family, Nulls family, Jones family, Walsh family, and Ms. Gold. In this book David, had escaped his abusive and alcoholic mother...more
Helmisade
rated it
* This review is for all three parts of Dave Pelzer's story
A horrible translation! I needed to get that out of my system first. There is so much bad language in my Finnish translation that it's almost difficult to concentrate on the actual story. The grammar geek in me would love to hit this book with the Red Pen of Dissapproval.
The story in itself is obviously horrible. I'm so happy that times are changing and it's more and more easy for children to get the help they need. I...more
A horrible translation! I needed to get that out of my system first. There is so much bad language in my Finnish translation that it's almost difficult to concentrate on the actual story. The grammar geek in me would love to hit this book with the Red Pen of Dissapproval.
The story in itself is obviously horrible. I'm so happy that times are changing and it's more and more easy for children to get the help they need. I...more
I Would give this book a 5 being the best. It was a really good book i liked it alot but the only thing it was sad what the little kid in the book was going thru. I choose this book because i heard people telling me it was a nice book. This book i read was about a kid who got abused by his mother. The characters in the story were the boy named David, his Mother, his Father, Grandmother,Brother,Sister and Aunt Mary. His mom didnt like him at all. David pelzer's life as a kid wasnt exactly perfe...more
This book is the continuation of the book called, the child called it. In the previous book it explains young davids life as his mother abuses him in extreme ways like stabbing him one time at a young age. After 10 years of abuse he his rescued from his home by his teachers that find out that he has been severely abused by his mother. The book ends as he his considered for foster care. Now in the lost boy, it explains davids life as a troubled child in foster care. David moves from home to home...more
Manman
added it
The Lost Boy is a sequel to "A Child Called It" which basically depicts the life of David (the author) at ages 12-18 years old.
The first book tells you about this little (literally) kid who was strong and determined enough to stay alive amidst all the abuse his mother had put him through.
This second part of the trilogy, however, tells you about a boy who's trying to become a man in order to fit in to the society that's all new to him.
After being rescued from h...more
The first book tells you about this little (literally) kid who was strong and determined enough to stay alive amidst all the abuse his mother had put him through.
This second part of the trilogy, however, tells you about a boy who's trying to become a man in order to fit in to the society that's all new to him.
After being rescued from h...more
Dave Pelzer has done it again with The Lost Boy. In this book, the story of A Child Called "It," is continued as an abused boy is forced to adapt to several new environments as he is put into foster care. He struggles with this, constantly finding himself unable to fit in with the other children or being forced to do things that are uncomfortable for him. He goes from place to place searching for a family in which he can call his own that will love and accept him. However, all along th...more
I loved this book, the first book child called it really got me motivated to read the rest of the books dave pelzer wrote. I love this books alot because i have been threw alot and i never thought that other people go threw bad stuff like this too and its not always better this kid went threw alot worse but also some equal stuff, no i was never abused, but had alot of family problems and i always sat and thought poor me when really this kid reading his books made me wake up and relize that im no...more
To say that David Pelzer came from "a dysfunctinal home" would be like saying the Jews were "treated badly" during the holacaust! How he literally survived is a puzzle, but how he survived to go one to live a "normal" life is a miracle. We all have baggage, but this man carries a whole set of luggage!
This story picks up where "A Child Called It" left off. At 12 years old, he finally escapes the hell he lived in as a child. Yet, as an adoles...more
This story picks up where "A Child Called It" left off. At 12 years old, he finally escapes the hell he lived in as a child. Yet, as an adoles...more
David Pelzer is a child taken into the foster care system at age twelve, though he had spent years being tortured and tormented by his mother. David is one of five sons and there's no real indication why he was singled out for his mother's attention. David's father is present during his early years, though he wants peace in his household at any cost—even if it means David is being beaten and tormented.
David's torment ranges from emotional to physical. David says that his mother is "...more
David's torment ranges from emotional to physical. David says that his mother is "...more
The Lost Boy was a terrific book! I thought it was a great sequel to A Child Called "it". I liked this book because it gave a sense of hope for every child that has been abused that there is a way out of that horrible life. Also I liked this book because it was a way for me to experience a totally different life style then I have. This book and A Child Called "it" are both based on the authors life experiences. The first book talks about when Dave first started being abused b...more
This book was as good as the first. In the sequel Dave is part of a foster home where he is finally free from the grasp of his mother's alcoholic rage. This new book is filled with new adventures that Dave encounters. Even in this book Dave faces new challenges that he must go through in a foster home where he feels as though he doesn't belong in. Facing so much in his childhood, I feel really bad for Dave because everywhere he goes, he's out of place; in his blood family and in his foster fami...more
كتاب رائع، المعاناة مؤلمة جدا، كان تائها حقا بين تلك العوائل التي لا تشعرك بالاستقرار، خصوصا في تذبذب التربية في كل عائلة أحدها متساهلة والثانية حازمة والثالث مترفة فلا يعتاد على جو معين إلا وينتقل إلى جو آخر، ناهيك عن الآثار النفسية المؤلمة التي تسببت بها أمه التي لا أدري كيف أصبحت أما؟ ما كان ينقصه وقتها هو الإيمان الحقيقي بالله الذي يستطيع اللجوء إليه عند كل محنة، الترجمة جيدة، وعموما فالترجمة التي تنقل لي المعنى الصحيح بشيء من الأدب الرفيع تكفيني، لأني لا أستطيع مقارنتها بما كتب بالعربية ابت...more
After reading Dave Peltzer's "A Child Called It", I was drawn to read this sequel. His account of the emotional and physical abuse received at the hands of his mother and then his escape from his torture and his adaptation to foster home life is riveting. However, I wanted to know the answer to the following questions: 1) Why wasn't his mother arrested on criminal charges for the almost murderous abuse inflicted on this defenseless child (she should have been!), and 2) What had caused ...more
This book is the next book after A Child Called It. this book is about David who is treated badly by his mom and so he was sent to a foster house by a social worker that went to visit David and his family for some time and she saw that they didn't treat him good so he was sent to a foster house. He was sent to live to many foster houses but he didn't fit in some of the foster houses. He lived in many fosters house where he was treated good and at one point he was living in a foster house where h...more
Also a freaking good book. The second in the Dave Pelzer series. It is not my favourtie of the three but is certainly good and a must read to get the whole story.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lost Boy | 1 | 8 | Dec 12, 2011 10:00am | |
| Book Review- The Lost Boy | 3 | 11 | Oct 22, 2011 11:51am | |
| SPSV Mrs. Rodgers...: Jennifer Adams | 2 | 10 | Sep 14, 2011 08:43am |
An author best known for his 1995 memoir of childhood abuse, A Child Called It.
At the age of 12, Dave was removed from an abusive home and placed in a series of foster homes. In 1979, he joined the Air Force and later became an author of memoirs and self-improvement books.
More about Dave Pelzer...
At the age of 12, Dave was removed from an abusive home and placed in a series of foster homes. In 1979, he joined the Air Force and later became an author of memoirs and self-improvement books.
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“You have to understand that in a person's life there are a few precious moments in which decisions, choices that you make now, will affect you for the rest of your life.”
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“I just don't want to forget this first day of the rest of my life!”
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