Product Description

For Charlie, the cold, dark basement is home. Father has kept him locked in there as punishment. Charlie doesn’t intend to leave, but when he is accidentally thrust outside, he awakens to the alien surroundings of a world to which he’s never before been exposed. Though haunted by hallucinations, fear of the basement, and his father’s rage, Charlie must find a way to survive in his new world. He has escaped his past, but his journey has just begun.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #658319 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780142405468
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7–Charlie's father has banished him to a dark cellar as punishment for some small transgression, and the boy sneaks upstairs at night while his parents sleep, desperately searching the kitchen for food and going outdoors to relieve himself. After he accidentally locks himself out, he wanders until he collapses, then awakens in a hospital. There, the extent of his deprivation and the resulting damage become clear. He doesn't know his last name or age, he has never heard of Thanksgiving or soccer, he has hallucinations about a menacing spider, and he cannot imagine going into the frightening world of the outdoors. Focusing on Charlie's internal thought processes, the action is primarily psychological. As the boy works with a psychiatrist and begins to trust his foster family, he grows to the point of being able to disagree with his controlling and warped father. However, as the book progresses, it loses tension and becomes repetitive. If he hasn't heard of Halloween or Thanksgiving, can it be much of a surprise that he hasn't seen a Christmas tree either? The intriguing premise can't quite compensate for the average writing and plotting. Elaine Marie Alphin's Counterfeit Son (Harcourt, 2000) and Malachy Doyle's Georgie (Bloomsbury, 2002) provide far more intense pictures of surviving psychological trauma.–Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Imprisoned in the basement for many years by his violent father, Charlie, 12, is sure he's being punished because he is bad, and when he escapes and is placed in a loving foster home, it takes him a long time to feel safe in the strange world outside. Through the truth of the boy's first-person, present-tense narrative, Shaw transforms what could have been a case study of abuse and recovery into a searing story that is part thriller (Will Father find him and hurt him?) and part gentle narrative about finding a home. The psychology in Charlie's therapy sessions is realistic; he longs to be back with his biological parents, and he desperately needs to believe they love him. But perhaps most compelling for readers are the details of Charlie's long isolation. Here's a child who has never seen TV or used the telephone. What is Christmas? Halloween? What is school? Then comes the quiet climax, when Charlie finally finds a place. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
A searing story that is part thriller . . . and part gentle narrative about finding a home. -- Booklist

Customer Reviews

Compelling Novel
This was truly one of the best books that I have read. I find it very compelling and the smilies that the writer used to explain the spider that he kept seeing and fearing was unbelievable. It just seemed so surreal to me, and I'm not so sure why.

I read this book in grade six and it showed me that the world wasn't really a perfect and wonderfully great all the time. I owe a lot to this novel.

I enjoyed the concept that was displayed in this story, and I swear every second a emotion streamed down Charlie's back I felt it too. The scene that I enjoyed the most was when the two boys went outside and Charlie's dad showed up. I didn't know what was going to happen at that point to be honest, I thought that it was going to be very climaxic, by his father dragging him away, but than the foster family to take him out of his hands.

This book will make you think about all the things that you have, have had, are going to have, and all the things that you will leave behind when you die. Charlie didn't have that in the begining of the story, but as time progressed he was given more and was earning more and most importantly he had a family, foster one maybe, but at least they cared about him and wanted to help him out.

I would recommend to anybody, to READ THIS BOOK.

The Boy From the Basement
Ever wonder how a young child could escape out of child abuse? Charlie (main character) knows exactly what it takes. His story takes you through the brutality, hard-ship, and recovery of child abuse. Recently I read The Boy from the Basement, by Susan Shaw for my freshman English class.
The main character in the book is a young boy named Charlie, who has been locked away and kept prisoner in the basement, by his easily angered father, as a "punishment". He has never been to school, heard of holidays or even used a phone. He believes he deserves this because he has been bad. Sadly, this is all Charlie has ever known. But when Charlie gets accidentally locked outside one night, he sees a world he had never seen before. When he gets picked up by police officers he is sent away to a foster family, where he is haunted by hallucinations and his father's anger.
I think that there were some very good parts in this book. One being was when Charlie was playing outside at his foster home and his father shows up. This was a big deal because his father was not supposed to even see Charlie because he had abused him. He also never let him outside before or he would make Charlie stay in the basement for even longer.
The reason why I'm recommending this book to you is that I think that it had a message I think that people should understand. The main idea was about a boy's escape and recovery from extreme child abuse and finding a new home. In my opinion this is a big problem still today. I also think that the author did a good job explaining the journey and how the main character got through it. On the other hand one thing I probably would have changed was about the mother in the story and that she really didn't have anything to do with the story line. I think it would have been better if they would have included her in it.

Struggling Readers Love To Read This
I teach Reading to struggling readers in high school. My goal is to get them engaged, because, if they're engaged, they read. This book hasn't been on the shelf more than 5 minutes since it was received in the mail. I haven't read it yet, but intend to over the summer. The teacher who recommended it was 100% correct.