Family Picture

by Dean Hughes

Feeling unwanted, an eleven-year-old orphan runs away from his foster home and lives on the streets until he finds a new type of family at a hotel.

Genres: Young Adult

Paperback

First published April 1, 1989

About the author

Dean Hughes is the author of more than eighty books for young readers, including the popular sports series Angel Park All-Stars, the Scrappers series, the Nutty series, the widely acclaimed companion novels Family Pose and Team Picture, and Search and Destroy. Soldier Boys was selected for the 2001 New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list. Dean Hughes and his wife, Kathleen, have three children and six grandchildren. They live in Midway, Utah.

Reviews

[Jennifer Sherwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great under rated book! I recommend it

[x. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long meandering book where not much happens. I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen but if you read the first chapter you've read the whole book. Clearly written from his time in Seattle, it's nice to imagine what the area was like back then for people who know it. The structure is quite fun- a homeless kid in Seattle starts living in a hotel and meets interesting characters. But just nothing happens. David's not quite likeable, something bad happened and he is stuck in life. He's depressed and miserable. Not a feel-good story by any stretch. It's all very one-note. No depth. Very point A to point B; plot happens. You're not missing anything.

BTW, did they get the likeness for that one actor on the cover?

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a boy named David who's had a rough life. His family died, and they weren't too great to begin with. He is bounced around foster homes until he decides to run away. He ends up at a hotel where a bellboy allows him to stay for the night. And then another. And another. Soon many of the people working in the hotel come to love David's company.

This was a really slow book for me. There is no real plot other than David needs a place to live. The characters are well developed, but I found myself wishing there was more. The ending was a little abrupt, and I feel like nothing really happened to David. I feel like I just wasted an hour and a half reading this book.

[Raabya Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A feel good book. A story about how after everything going into the dumps there's still the little flame of hope that can ignite into dreams and good living. A single Runaway boy brings hope to some not very hopeful people's life

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

TPL