The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family

The Lost Boy A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family by Dave Pelzer (based on 453 customer reviews)

(Paperback)
Edition: Revised
Author: Dave Pelzer
Publisher: HCI

List Price: $12.95
Amazon's Price: $10.36
You save: $2.59 (20%)

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
123 out of 129 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 5/12/00

Heart-wrenching, amazing and uplifting true stroy.

The Lost Boy is an absolutely amazing true story of Dave Pelzer, which chronicles his years from 12 to 18 years of age as a foster child. This is book two of three and now I must go and read the other two books in the trilogy. I could not put this book down. I would recommend this book to everyone.

This will book will make you cry, it will make you mad, and at the end, you will be cheering and crying tears of joy for Dave. This book will break your heart and if you are a parent, you will be outraged at the abuse. Sadly, child abuse is so prevalent, and there are so many cunning, and devious parents out there, that some children do not get out and the abuse is "allowed" to go on and on or the child is killed.

Dave's strength, determination, and unbreakable spirit shine throughout this book. How he survived the brutality can only be called a miracle. It breaks my heart to read of such incredible abuse and one does have to thank the foster parents, social works and teachers in this child's life. Dave says, "It takes a community to save a child", and I wholeheartedly agree.

Dave takes you through his five different foster families during his adolescent years and his desperate determination to find the love of a family and a "home" propels him by not abandoning hope.

Dave's inner strength, courage, and fortitude are a shining inspiration to us all. God bless you Dave and the work that you are doing to help other children. Thank you for opening our eyes and sharing "your" story.

18 out of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/14/00

Foster Mom's Perspective

I am a 31 yr old single foster mother to a 4 yr old boy. By chance I saw "The Lost Boy" in a grocery store & bought it immediately. The insight into the mind of an abused child was invaluable to me. Since then I have purchased and read his other 2 books. The excerpts in the back of the book from the adults involved in Dave's life were especially helpful to me. When things get tough, I go back & re-read them to remind myself that somehow I am impacting my child. I hope that no matter what happens in my little guy's life, that he will remember me in a positive light. These books are painful to read, but shows how it IS possible to beat the odds. I hope that everyone who reads the series becomes more involved in some way, politically, financially or otherwise to make a difference. God bless you Dave.

17 out of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/9/99

A terrific book that I would suggest to everyone

I have read this book and the first book, A Child Called It, a thousand times. I love them. These books capture the reality and truth of an abused boy. In the first book his alcholoic mother almost kills him in several ways(making him eat his brothers poop, sitting him on a hot stove, not letting him eat unless it had ammonia on it) I love this book. I have bought both books and look forward to Dave Pelzer's upcoming book A Man Named Dave. I am only 12 years old . I look at this book as an actual play taking place in front of me. As I read I can see this going on. It makes you almost wish that you could go in and save this boy. The Lost Boy is based on David Pelzer from ages 12-18 when he is in foster care. He has at adverage4-18 foster homes a month. This book will bring you tears, love, determintation, and leave you with a new perspective on foster children. You will see it in Dave's eyes.

15 out of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/3/03

Amazing

When I met Dave Pelzer a few years ago, you could see the chips still in his teeth from his head being slammed against the counter. He showed off pictures of his wife Marsha and his son Stephen. Also in his wallet, his father's badge, which choked him up as he talked about it.

This 2nd book in Pelzer's trilogy follows his journey through California's foster care system. I learned a lot about his past and how his abuse affected his adolescent life, a time that is tough enough if you've had a pretty good home life. I didn't find this book as captivating as the first, but this one will still grab your attention. I knew that he'd made it out okay and had made something positive out of his life, but just following him until he found his 'home' with his final set of foster parents. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to have all of those attachments just severed.

My favorite line is one of the last lines in the book, "Aboard my first plane rise, I opened my eyes for the first time as a man named Dave."

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