The Privilege of Youth

This is the sequel to the book, “A child called it” and “The lost boy”. This book starts off with Dave in present time. He is looking back at all his teenage years and reflecting on his life. It tells of his teen years as an abused child. He is placed into foster care in California in the 1970’s. Despite the freedom and sense of family he got from his many foster families, he was still bullied and torment at school and in his neighborhoods as he struggled to fit in. Then he moved to Duinsmoore. He felt this place was heaven, the had good neighbors and started to make friends, David and Paul. Life was better for Dave but still very traumatic as he approached the dreaded age of 18 when foster children are cut loose and must go it alone in the world. Dave admits he made poor choices along the way by sacrificing school for working many jobs to save enough money to make it on his own, dropping out of school to work as a car salesman, and dreaming of a career as a Hollywood stuntman. He was fortunate to have the friendship of two men from his neighborhood of Duinsmoore, Mike Marsh and Dan Brazell, who preached to him to finish school and make something of his life. It was here in the world of Duinsmoore, CA that he gained a sense of belonging that he had never known. After he was 18 he went into the Military and lived a happy life with his new wife and son.

I learned something about others from this book. In this book Dave had a hard time fitting in. Back then a lot of people thought very low of foster kids. He got beat up, forgotten and left out. It showed me that you have to live life to the fullest and never give up. Dave had a bad life, he could have given up and turned out like the rest of the loser foster kids, but he didn’t. He made friends, he had car, he enjoyed his teenage years. You just have to believe and you can make it through

I learned that you can have a rotten life, but still enjoy it. This book has given name better understanding of what happened or made me feel the emotions he was feeling. You may make wrong chooses, but hopefully you will get past them and still live a good life. I have learned a lot from this book.

~Bridget