The Lost Boy (memoir)
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| Author | David Pelzer |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Health Communications, Inc. |
Publication date | 1997 |
| Preceded by | A Child Called "It" |
| Followed by | A Man Named Dave |
The Lost Boy (1997) is the second installment of a trilogy of books which depict the life of David Pelzer, who as a young boy was physically, emotionally, mentally, and psychologically abused by his obsessive mother.
The book discusses Pelzer's struggling with his ability to fit in and adapt to the new environment around him as he is put into foster care. It also talks about the kindness of his foster parents and other people around him as well as his inability to brush his mother aside.
The Lost Boy is included as the second book in Dave Pelzer's compilation My Story.
Plot
The book continues after the ending of the previous book, A Child Called "It" with David Pelzer, 9 years old, running away from his home in Daly City, California. He ends up in a bar, getting caught by a staff named Mark for stealing a quarter. Mark calls the police while tricking David to stay by baiting him with a pizza. The police brings David to the police station while sharing a pizza Mark gave David before he left. David's father arrives to bring David home to his abusive mother, telling the police that David is just upset for not being allowed to ride his bicycle. David's teachers eventually contact the authorities, causing David to be put together with a social services worker named Ms. Gold. Before the trial of whether or not to permanently remove him from his mother's custody, David becomes confused about whether he may have deserved the treatment his mother gave him. Ms. Gold, on the other hand, assures him it had nothing to do with him, and that his mother is sick. David eventually tells the truth of his mother, and becomes a permanent ward of the court, escaping from the abuse of his mother.
After the trial, he is put into a home under the care of a woman he calls Aunt Mary. He is admired by the other foster children as he has a skill of stealing, and is quite active and disruptive due to being cut off from normal household living and behavior for so long. He soon receives a visit from his mother and brothers. His mother asks how David was doing, calling him "The Boy", shocking Aunt Mary. While Aunt Mary answered a short phone call, his mother swears to David that she will get him back. David later meets his first 'permanent' foster parent---Lilian and Rudy Catanze. During his stay, David's mother pays him another visit and his brother,Stan, brought back David's bicycle, which was mistreated and broken. He is so distraught by the bike's condition that he cried for hours. He decides to earn money in order to fix the bicycle by cleaning the bathroom for thirty cents. After he has enough money, Tony, Lilian's son, brings David to the bicycle shop and helps David buy the right parts to fix his bicycle. One day, he decides to ride his bicycle and go down his old road where his old home is. His family sees him riding on the road, and contacts his foster family. .
Later in the book,a person who he thinks is his friend, starts using him to do illegal things. One of those times is when they plan to set one of his teacher's classroom on fire. The fire gets out of control, and David tries to stop it. His "friend" later tells the teacher that it was all David. As a result he is removed from his foster home, and sent to Juvenile Hall. While he is in Juvenile Hall, he remarks that the life in it is much easier than the life 'outside'. He eventually is released, and is placed in multiple foster homes across California.
In his sophomore year of high school, he is placed into a class for slow learners. He then decides that he is more interested in earning money than school, because he will be out of foster care in less than a year. When he is out of foster care, he enlists in the US Air Force. Surprisingly, his own mother knew the news and she congratulated him at his Air Force graduation. As he talked to his mother and began to cry, he then hopes that his mother will say the three special words that he has always wanted her to say. "I love you." It was not said and he believes she is just playing with his emotions, as he has longed for these three words for years. He believes that he wanted to see his mother but that was also not a good idea. He soon realizes that the mother's love that he has always been searching for was in the arms of his foster mother, Alice. The story ends with him beginning his career in the Air Force so he can learn how to treat others. From then on it continues to the book A Man Named Dave. After the book Dave get married and has a child named Stephen. Its very difficult to share his story to the world but mostly his son so he wrote the books of memory.