Lost and Found

Lost and Found
By: Orson Scott Card

I loved this book! Card has a smart and dry sense of humor and it shows. Lost and Found showcases his mastery of dialogue and wit and character relationships.

I loved all the characters! Each person had their own original distinction- not a run of the mill ‘outcast’ or ‘dad’ or ‘cop’ character but something with a creative flair. In that way it reminded me a little of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children. I liked how even though Ezekiel and Beth were the “weird” kids they didn’t play the victim but almost had a sense of impatient apathy because they were smart enough to understand their identity didn’t have to be shaped by what their peers thought of them.

I especially loved the relationship between Ezekiel and his dad. Their banter and the way they interact and trust each other is very meaningful. You can tell they understand each other and care about one another. You just don’t see good and healthy parent/child relationships portrayed in books and movies very much. Where a parent and child (from the beginning) can enjoy each other, trust each other, and make each other laugh, while still maintaining the idea of a parent having authority and the child respecting that authority. It does exist in that way in real life and I appreciate that he included it.

I read this book without ever really reading the summary (because Ender’s Game- need I say more?). So it all starts off normal: Okay, a kid is an outcast at school because people thought he stole a bike when he returned it to its owner when really he just finds things and tries to reunite them with who they belong to. Not common but not out there. But actually it’s not common. It’s his micropower (genius right?! Because it’s not a superpower??) and he gets to be in this group of people who all have micropowers. Awesome things like making people yawn, or pores that produce counter smells to neutralize a pungent room, or the ability to know if your belly button is an inny or an outty.

And then a completely (basically) normal kid goes on a rescue mission (of suburban proportions) using his micropower and the help of a completely normal police officer and his dad. And I love how Card can plant a sci-fi story aspect into a normal YA novel and somehow juxtapose these two storylines into something so cohesive and comfortable. I could see this being a really good movie. (but obviously the book will always be better)

After I finished the book I realized that I didn’t really have a visual sense of the book- the setting or what the characters looked like- because Card didn’t spend time (or rather waste time) describing everything. Which I think would’ve detracted from the overall driving force of the story. And if he did describe something it wasn’t the cliche lavender soap, chestnut hair, broad shoulders, milky white or sun-kissed skin type of language but something completely original and hilarious and way more helpful in actually manifesting in your mind. If you read this book, you will not feel like you’ve read a hundred like it.

This story shows me that Orson Scott Card is a smart, creative, and funny guy who has imagination and sarcasm and the ability to write things that are meaningful. I hope he keeps writing books.

I believe you need this story because it will make you laugh, it will engage you, it will teach you things you never knew, and it will sit with you in the best possible way.


[Side parental guidance warning: a kidnapping occurs for the purpose of child pornography. It is not described or enacted but nonetheless may raise questions or fears for younger readers]

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