Mike Echols
I Know My First Name is Steven (1993)
Author: Mike Echols
Genre: True Crime (Inside Encounter)
Book Summary:
At the age of seven, Steven Stayner was kidnapped while walking home from school. Kenneth Parnell told Steven that the court had awarded him custody because his parents no longer wanted him, and the impressionable young child believed him. Parnell died Steven's hair and moved to several different locations bringing the kidnapped child that he called his "son." During the time that Steven (renamed Dennis by Parnell) lived with his kidnapper, he was sexually assaulted repeatedly. Eventually, Parnell tired of "Dennis" and kidnapped another boy, five-year-old Timmy White, to be his new son. Dennis feared that Parnell would rape the new boy as well so he made a daring escape to return Timmy to his family. Steven also returned to his family, seven years older and a very different man than the seven-year-old who disappeared years before.
Geographical Setting: California with occasional references to different states
Time Period: 1970s and 1980s
Appeal Characteristics:
This book is primarily about a series of events following Steven's abduction, and the characters are well-developed. The characterization is strong because readers learn the history and family dynamics of the kidnapper and the victim, and even secondary characters have depth to them. For example, Parnell's mother is well-described. The tone is dark because it deals with the worst parts of humanity – the rape of a child. Likewise, there is also strong emotional appeal as the reader is horrified by the crimes against Steven and then feels his pain as he tries to separate his complex feelings for the kidnapper while trying to readjust to the family he barely remembers. The setting is predominantly small-town and rural California and the remote regions contribute to the desperation of Steven's story. This book tells of human behavior, a subject centered appeal element. The story delves deeply into Parnell's deviations and the ways that Steven tried to cope with abuse at a young age. It doesn't suggest that human nature is fundamentally evil, but unlike Timmy, there is no simple happy ending for Steven. The story benefits from the section of photos that contribute to the journalistic writing style. The photos force one to remember that this is fact not fiction and these events did happen to real people, those portrayed in the photos. The graphic and investigative journalistic style is fostered by interviews with and quotes from the people involved, including Parnell. The pace is slow as the author throws in more recent quotations from involved parties as well as information from old police files. Having said that, the author does cover an extraordinary amount of time in a boy's life in a relatively small book so it seems to move quickly and even though Steven's abuse remains painful and repetitive, one doesn't tire of his story. The style also invokes curiosity as the reader tries to understand Parnell's complex psyche and Steven's deep pain; it also delves into human behavior and what made Steven an ideal victim.
Read-alikes: Readers who enjoyed this story may explore another Mike Echol's book - Brother Tony's Boys: The Largest Case of Child Prostitution in U.S. History. This story tells of a Pentecostal preacher who sexually abused young boys in his congregation. Like I Know My First Name Is Steven, this book has a journalistic style and includes photographs to further the story. Fans of Echols' portrayal of true crime might also try Ann Rule's Bitter Harvest: A Woman's Fury, A Mother's Sacrifice, a story about a woman who poisoned her husband and killed her two children in a fire she set. This book has deep characterization and a journalistic style including interviews with and quotations from various players in the story. Readers who feel drawn to the emotional aspects of I Know My First Name is Steven will relate emotionally to the victim in Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb. This story of a mentally retarded woman who was raped by some all-American boys has a small town setting and a dark and tragic tone. Christine Mcguire's Perfect Victim: The True Story of "The Girl in the Box" by the D.A. That Prosecuted Her Captor tells the graphic, dark story of a female hitchhiker who was held as a sex slave. This book emphasizes the side of human behavior that made the hitchhiker the perfect victim and the psychology that led to her captor's perversion and has strong emotional appeal. Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me tells an insider encounter of her friendship with Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious serious killers. With deep characterization and an investigative tone, this compelling story will draw readers.
Red Flags: Descriptions of forced oral sex and sodomy with a child.
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