The Boy from the Basement is about a 12-year-old boy who has spent his entire life in

the basement. His abusive father forced him into the basement for no reason at all. When his
father goes to bed, he sneaks upstairs to get leftovers. He isn't allowed to go to the bathroom
inside the basement so he has to go to the bathroom outside. His father is so psychotic that
Charlie doesn’t know how to read or what his own last name is. His father makes him believe
that he deserves it and that he did something wrong. 
One day, Charlie went out to use the restroom and the door slammed closed behind
him. Charlie is afraid of what his dad will do and runs into a street and collapses from starvation,
sleep deprivation, two rib fractures, a broken collarbone, and a urinary tract infection. When
Charlie woke up, he was welcomed by nurses and a psychologist. Even though the hospital
wanted to help Charlie, the boy is in constant fear of his father finding out. A nurse came into
the room to have a one-on-one with Charlie. The nurse finds out that Charlie ate a spider, while
in the basement, which causes Charlie to hallucinate a red spider who easily gets angry and
turns dark red. They noticed Charlie had pain in his left shoulder and got x-rays, finding two rib
fractures and a broken collarbone. He is given a cast and they make him stay in bed so that he
has time to heal and recover. 
During his checkups, they notice that Charlie always drew his family and his
father always looked mean and unsettling. After seeing these drawings, they decide that maybe
it is not best to send him back to his home, that maybe a foster family would be a better fit. They
find him foster parents that are willing to help him. A few days later, Charlie is in the hospital bed
when the doctors bring in his father and his mother. Charlie notices how his mother looks weak,
pale and sickly and how mad his father looks. The doctors tell the parents that they are not
allowed to bring Charlie home with them because of all of the injuries they found on his body. Of
course, this does not make his father happy. Charlie’s father stomps out and Charlie feels like
he did something wrong. A couple of days later, Charlie is picked up by this stranger and he is
terrified of stepping outside. He is even more terrified of the spider getting mad and coming to
eat him. Finally, Charlie does walk outside. Those few steps will be the greatest
accomplishment Charlie has ever done in his life. 
After Charlie goes to a foster home, he learns how to read and write with his new foster
brothers. He makes a new friend named Aaron and even after all of his mistreatments, he finds
it in his heart to forgive his father. The lesson we can all learn from this story is to always forgive
others, even if they treat you terribly.  

I liked the book, especially the part when Charlie finds it in his heart to
forgive his father even after what he did to Charlie. I would recommend this book,
but not to anyone younger than eleven. There are a few parts that I think a
younger reader might find uncomfortable. The story has a slow pace. It takes
Charlie the entire book to recover. At the end of the book, Charlie finally loses the
fear of his father coming to take him away.