"Despite their individual weaknesses, these boys share within the group a feeling of strength and safety that bonds them together. As they bravely set out along the railroad tracks to find the body of a missing boy their own age, the journey begins innocently with a dream of becoming town heroes, but before it is over, Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern will be tested in ways they had never imagined.

By the time they eventually return to Castle Rock, it is more clear what the future holds for each of these boys. Teddy and Vern, unchanged by the experience, are likely destined to stay in Castle Rock. As adults, they probably won't be much different from the boys they are in 1959.

Chris, sharing new-found strength with Gordie, is helped by his special friend to believe in his own potential for success. He will go on to college, eventually becoming a lawyer.

Gordie, through Chris' friendship and belief in him, begins to accept himself. Returning home, he will see that nothing in Castle Rock, or anywhere, will be quite the same again. For him, the trip becomes an odyssey of self-discovery, charting a pathway that will lead Gordie to becoming a highly successful popular writer.

Then, years later, he will tell this story ..."

NO kid is BORN bad. 

Societal and environmental circumstances CAUSE kids to "deviate." 
Therefore it follows that ANY KID can be "salvaged."

All it takes is patience and understanding.
Essentially, all it takes on our part is to show kids that someone
DOES.CARE...

One of "my kids" at one of the youth shelters sketched this (Summer 2000).
Isn't it great?
(Well, the ARTWORK, that is ...  the subject itself is quite telling ...)

America's Strongest Voice for Children

"Well, I hope so, Tex ...  I hope there's SOMETHING you take seriously - because it may be the only thing that saves you."
from "Tex" by S. E. Hinton (also a movie, starring Matt Dillon)

The name of the movie documenting Steven Stayner's case is "I Know My First Name Is Steven." There is also a book of the same name by author Mike Echols, whose web site the above Steven Stayner link now leads to. The book was hard to obtain until it was re-published in 1999. It's available to order online at

[ Paperback (October 1999) Pinnacle Books;
ISBN: 0786011041 ]