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A Lost Cause
From award-winning creator Felicita Sala comes a whimsical adventure about a child who’s determined to recover all his misplaced belongings, wherever they may be
A baseball cap. A special sweater covered in dogs. A marble collection. The baseball cap, again.
Pablo just can’t stop losing his at the bus stop, in the park, on a plane, everywhere! When his exasperated parents give him the responsibility of keeping track of everything, Pablo tries—he really does. But his room has become a frightful mess, and with show-and-tell just around the corner, Pablo needs to find his things now more than ever. Where have they gone to? And who can help him now?
Relatably told from a child’s point of view, this playful tale from internationally beloved author-illustrator Felicita Sala explores the secret lives of the countless little things that go missing every day.
A baseball cap. A special sweater covered in dogs. A marble collection. The baseball cap, again.
Pablo just can’t stop losing his at the bus stop, in the park, on a plane, everywhere! When his exasperated parents give him the responsibility of keeping track of everything, Pablo tries—he really does. But his room has become a frightful mess, and with show-and-tell just around the corner, Pablo needs to find his things now more than ever. Where have they gone to? And who can help him now?
Relatably told from a child’s point of view, this playful tale from internationally beloved author-illustrator Felicita Sala explores the secret lives of the countless little things that go missing every day.
Hardcover
Published October 7, 2025
About the author
Felicita Sala
62 books76 followersFelicita is a self taught illustrator. She graduated in Philosophy from the University of Western Australia. She has worked on several animation projects along with husband Gianluca, but her passion is making picture books. She lives in Rome with Gianluca and their daughter Nina.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 24, 2025
Cutest picture book I have seen in a while! I am so in love with Felicita Sala's illustrations and her protagonist, pig Pablo.
Pablo is scatterbrained: he is always losing things. He leaves a trail of crayons and drawings because he forgot to close his backpack and doesn't even notice. I can relate! Mr. Crunch, Pablo's adorable teddy, is getting lost all the time. The list is neverending (and beautiful to look at): the marble collection, the first baby tooth, the special sweater with the dogs. But where do all these lost things go?
"A Lost Cause" is eye candy with a very warm and tender story that made my heart swell. An absolute favorite!
Pablo is scatterbrained: he is always losing things. He leaves a trail of crayons and drawings because he forgot to close his backpack and doesn't even notice. I can relate! Mr. Crunch, Pablo's adorable teddy, is getting lost all the time. The list is neverending (and beautiful to look at): the marble collection, the first baby tooth, the special sweater with the dogs. But where do all these lost things go?
"A Lost Cause" is eye candy with a very warm and tender story that made my heart swell. An absolute favorite!
January 30, 2026
As someone who is notoriously losing my items, I thought this was a beautiful book. It takes one special character to say something sweet in a children's book and bring me to tears for a 5 star rating. That's when I know this story really touched my heart!
April 2, 2026
I love to periodically read picture books because they were my first love to get me into reading and I no longer have young children to read to. This one sounded cute and it did not disappoint. As someone who lost or forgot things frequently as a kid I could totally relate. I loved the twist in the story and how Pablo found all his missing things. The illustrations to this book were charming as well.
April 7, 2026
After being repeatedly lost, Pablo's toys run away.
Pablo is constantly losing things, and his exasperated parents are always have to search for his possessions. Finally, they decide to just let Pablo experience the consequences of not keeping track of his things. When show-and-tell rolls around, Pablo desperately looks for some of his favorite toys only to discover that they have run away to a safe house for lost objects because they were tired of being lost. With the help of a painted rock, he tracks them down and convinces them to give him another chance to take proper care of them.
Pablo is prone to losing things. Due to the lack of consequences, Pablo was perfectly content to let his parents, primarily his mother, be responsible for lost items. Luckily, his parents decided to shift the responsibility for caring for one's thing back to Pablo. At first, nothing happens, and Pablo doesn't care that his things are misplaced and lost, but when Pablo really wants some things that he hadn't bothered to take care of for weeks on end, he learns the errors of his ways and vows to do better.
I felt this story as a mother. As a caregiver, it's exhausting to have to monitor a child's possessions to prevent them from being lost (constantly inventorying hats and mittens before leaving a building or a vehicle, checking backpacks, returning scattered toys to their designated areas, hunting down missing items, etc ...).
I was a bit disappointed in Pablo's parents. They could have nipped things in the bud sooner. As a child with a low clutter threshold (a clutter threshold is the amount of stuff that one can easily keep under control in a given space), Pablo had way too many things in his room, and they should have implemented the one-in-one-out rule to keep the number of items to a level he could manage.
There were also no consequences for Pablo when he came home without his backpack, water bottle, lunch box, hat, etc ... Pablo had no incentive to keep track of his baseball cap because he knew his parents would simply buy him a new one. Maybe he should have been made to do chores for $5 an hour to "earn" the money it would cost to replace the lost items. (Maybe parents don't give the "money doesn't grow on trees" talk anymore.) Why would Pablo expend the effort to keep track of his toys and pieces of his toys when he has hundreds of toys at his disposal? The less one has, the more value each item has. The things ones has, the less value each item has.
Also, why on earth was Pablo allowed to take his precious teddy bear out of the house? This is a rookie parenting mistake. It is best to have a rule that irreplaceable stuffies are never allowed to leave a child's bedroom. He certainly shouldn't have been allowed to take it out of the house after the first time he lost it.
Pablo's mother calling him "scatterbrain" and "bubble brain" is unproductive. She needed to make it clear that he was expected to keep track of his things, or there would be consequences. For example, if he lost his homework, then he would not be allowed to have screen time.
As a larger cultural issue, when his mother made it her responsibility instead of his responsibility to search for his lost possessions, she was unintentionally reinforcing the social norm that women just provide free domestic labor for men, and Pablo was on track to become man who expected his female domestic partner(s) to keep track of his things for him. Her behavior, which she views as loving, will create a sense of entitlement. Thankfully, the mom to wife pipeline is drying up. Women are tired of mankeeping. The duty of a parent is to raise a responsible adult. Being able to keep track of one's own stuff is necessary life skill.
I appreciated that Pablo's tendency to lose things was not justified by a neurological/psychological disorder. Yes, having a neurological disorder like inattentive ADHD makes one more prone to losing things. No, it does not give one permission to abdicate all responsibility for keeping track of one's own things and place it on another because that's just how I am. Neurological disorders are a reason and an explanation, and the person with the neurological disorder is still responsible for what happens. Behavioral therapy was developed to help people, especially children, adapt and develop skills when a neurological disorder negatively impacts everyday life and impedes one's ability to function in society. It is an evidence-based effective treatment that should be utilized.
The illustrations were done in watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils.
Pablo is constantly losing things, and his exasperated parents are always have to search for his possessions. Finally, they decide to just let Pablo experience the consequences of not keeping track of his things. When show-and-tell rolls around, Pablo desperately looks for some of his favorite toys only to discover that they have run away to a safe house for lost objects because they were tired of being lost. With the help of a painted rock, he tracks them down and convinces them to give him another chance to take proper care of them.
Pablo is prone to losing things. Due to the lack of consequences, Pablo was perfectly content to let his parents, primarily his mother, be responsible for lost items. Luckily, his parents decided to shift the responsibility for caring for one's thing back to Pablo. At first, nothing happens, and Pablo doesn't care that his things are misplaced and lost, but when Pablo really wants some things that he hadn't bothered to take care of for weeks on end, he learns the errors of his ways and vows to do better.
I felt this story as a mother. As a caregiver, it's exhausting to have to monitor a child's possessions to prevent them from being lost (constantly inventorying hats and mittens before leaving a building or a vehicle, checking backpacks, returning scattered toys to their designated areas, hunting down missing items, etc ...).
I was a bit disappointed in Pablo's parents. They could have nipped things in the bud sooner. As a child with a low clutter threshold (a clutter threshold is the amount of stuff that one can easily keep under control in a given space), Pablo had way too many things in his room, and they should have implemented the one-in-one-out rule to keep the number of items to a level he could manage.
There were also no consequences for Pablo when he came home without his backpack, water bottle, lunch box, hat, etc ... Pablo had no incentive to keep track of his baseball cap because he knew his parents would simply buy him a new one. Maybe he should have been made to do chores for $5 an hour to "earn" the money it would cost to replace the lost items. (Maybe parents don't give the "money doesn't grow on trees" talk anymore.) Why would Pablo expend the effort to keep track of his toys and pieces of his toys when he has hundreds of toys at his disposal? The less one has, the more value each item has. The things ones has, the less value each item has.
Also, why on earth was Pablo allowed to take his precious teddy bear out of the house? This is a rookie parenting mistake. It is best to have a rule that irreplaceable stuffies are never allowed to leave a child's bedroom. He certainly shouldn't have been allowed to take it out of the house after the first time he lost it.
Pablo's mother calling him "scatterbrain" and "bubble brain" is unproductive. She needed to make it clear that he was expected to keep track of his things, or there would be consequences. For example, if he lost his homework, then he would not be allowed to have screen time.
As a larger cultural issue, when his mother made it her responsibility instead of his responsibility to search for his lost possessions, she was unintentionally reinforcing the social norm that women just provide free domestic labor for men, and Pablo was on track to become man who expected his female domestic partner(s) to keep track of his things for him. Her behavior, which she views as loving, will create a sense of entitlement. Thankfully, the mom to wife pipeline is drying up. Women are tired of mankeeping. The duty of a parent is to raise a responsible adult. Being able to keep track of one's own stuff is necessary life skill.
I appreciated that Pablo's tendency to lose things was not justified by a neurological/psychological disorder. Yes, having a neurological disorder like inattentive ADHD makes one more prone to losing things. No, it does not give one permission to abdicate all responsibility for keeping track of one's own things and place it on another because that's just how I am. Neurological disorders are a reason and an explanation, and the person with the neurological disorder is still responsible for what happens. Behavioral therapy was developed to help people, especially children, adapt and develop skills when a neurological disorder negatively impacts everyday life and impedes one's ability to function in society. It is an evidence-based effective treatment that should be utilized.
The illustrations were done in watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils.
June 24, 2025
We all know someone like Pablo, a little boy was always losing things. His parents went to great lengths to find all of his lost items – toys, his swim shorts (lost in the sea!), his water bottle, his baseball hat, and many other essential and non essential things. One day they have had enough. They tell Pablo that he will have to start looking for his lost things by himself. As you may guess, this does not go well. But an overlooked toy in the back of his wardrobe tells him a secret, and that’s how Pablo discovers the “Committee for Lost and Forgotten Things.”
I always celebrate when a new book by Felicita Sala hits the shelves. Her fabulous artwork (here it’s watercolor, gouache and colored pencils) is realistic, whimsical, textured and always uses a gorgeous color palette. Pablo and his parents, who are pigs, are also human in that their expressions and mannerisms are completely recognizable. And there’s always humor. Kids will love finding Pablo’s toys hidden in his house, sometimes right in front of him. They’ll giggle at the sheep who is enjoying the lost baseball cap, the marbles in the toilet paper tube and the snow globe in the butter dish. They’ll identify with how hard it is to keep your room clean. And they’ll LOVE that there’s a place where everyone’s lost things go. What a great solution to a perennial problem! The two page spread of the room of “lost and forgotten things” is such fun to peruse. Will kids notice that a lost cat follows Pablo home from there and takes up a spot on a kitchen chair? Maybe not the first time they read it…
I always celebrate when a new book by Felicita Sala hits the shelves. Her fabulous artwork (here it’s watercolor, gouache and colored pencils) is realistic, whimsical, textured and always uses a gorgeous color palette. Pablo and his parents, who are pigs, are also human in that their expressions and mannerisms are completely recognizable. And there’s always humor. Kids will love finding Pablo’s toys hidden in his house, sometimes right in front of him. They’ll giggle at the sheep who is enjoying the lost baseball cap, the marbles in the toilet paper tube and the snow globe in the butter dish. They’ll identify with how hard it is to keep your room clean. And they’ll LOVE that there’s a place where everyone’s lost things go. What a great solution to a perennial problem! The two page spread of the room of “lost and forgotten things” is such fun to peruse. Will kids notice that a lost cat follows Pablo home from there and takes up a spot on a kitchen chair? Maybe not the first time they read it…
January 26, 2026
As a person with ADHD who happens to lose things, I had hope that this book was going to address that issue. I thought it would be a great book with a lesson.
Pablo appears to have ADHD; however, nothing was said about that. He loses stuff and his mother calls him "scatterbrained" and later in the book he is called a "Bubble Brain" because he loses things and can't remember where to find them. He also suffers from, what I would describe as a panic attack, when he cleans and realizes how many of his things are actually missing.
This book is supposed to teach about responsibility I guess; however, not all children or adults for that matter have brains that work in the same manner. They are not "scatterbrained" or "bubble heads", their brains just work differently. Granted these names were supposed to be "funny", but if they were said to real children with the same problems, that would not be funny.
Very disappointed in this book.
Pablo appears to have ADHD; however, nothing was said about that. He loses stuff and his mother calls him "scatterbrained" and later in the book he is called a "Bubble Brain" because he loses things and can't remember where to find them. He also suffers from, what I would describe as a panic attack, when he cleans and realizes how many of his things are actually missing.
This book is supposed to teach about responsibility I guess; however, not all children or adults for that matter have brains that work in the same manner. They are not "scatterbrained" or "bubble heads", their brains just work differently. Granted these names were supposed to be "funny", but if they were said to real children with the same problems, that would not be funny.
Very disappointed in this book.
November 13, 2025
A boy loses his things al the time, and he's parents give up trying to help him. They say he has to find everything himself. But when he can't find something for show and tell he realizes that maybe he does need to look. But where? Well a talking rock helps him find where all the lost things go. Was pretty silly and the talking rock bit threw me as I thought it was going to be a more realistic story that talks about ADHD (and tips on how to remember where things are). But I think kids who loses stuff alot will relate, and parents will enjoy the humor of having a kid who always misplaces things.
March 22, 2026
Net zo fantastisch als álles van Felicita Sala. De Nederlandse titel ‘Warhoofd’ is wel wat minder gevat dan het origineel, maar ook dit is weer een origineel en sprankelend verhaal - ditmaal over een knulletje (Pablo) dat door hoe zijn hoofd werkt gewoon niet zo goed is in de zorg voor zijn spullen, ook al geeft hij er wel degelijk om.
Het ‘morele lesje’ is niet helemaal mijn smaak, maar het boek straalt van de liefde voor vergeten kleine prulletjes en dat kan me als groot liefhebber van opruimen met een enorm hart voor kleine zaken zonder ogenschijnlijk grote waarde enorm bekoren.
Het ‘morele lesje’ is niet helemaal mijn smaak, maar het boek straalt van de liefde voor vergeten kleine prulletjes en dat kan me als groot liefhebber van opruimen met een enorm hart voor kleine zaken zonder ogenschijnlijk grote waarde enorm bekoren.
April 7, 2026
This book has it's heart in the right place, but I noticed a few issues with it personally.
As a person with ADHD I can see where this book aims to teach kids about the importance of keeping up with lost items. But it casts a dangerous idea that kids should run away to find their things in an abandoned building. Though I know that is not the intention, that is what the character does. Coming home at night to find his parents worried.
I also found it...interesting that instead of the parents teaching the character ways to keep up with his things they expect him to take full responsibility, leading him to leave home to find his things in the middle of the night in an abandoned building.
Any book that I would then have to tell my child not to do the things mentioned in the book is not going to be the book I grab first.
As a person with ADHD I can see where this book aims to teach kids about the importance of keeping up with lost items. But it casts a dangerous idea that kids should run away to find their things in an abandoned building. Though I know that is not the intention, that is what the character does. Coming home at night to find his parents worried.
I also found it...interesting that instead of the parents teaching the character ways to keep up with his things they expect him to take full responsibility, leading him to leave home to find his things in the middle of the night in an abandoned building.
Any book that I would then have to tell my child not to do the things mentioned in the book is not going to be the book I grab first.
November 19, 2025
Sala can do no wrong in my humble opinion and this book is a primer as to why: a kid's world with realistic kid behavior, a moment of realization, a dash of magic, and a loving conclusion, all wrapped up in splendid illustration. Thank you, Felicita.
February 5, 2026
Pablo’s parents want him to learn to be responsible for all the things he was constantly losing. The rest of the story fell flat for me. I feel like this is one of those recently written books that just don’t make much logical sense.
November 9, 2025
Fave illustrator. Beautiful layers of color.
December 23, 2025
I wish I had a rock to help me find all my lost things!
January 2, 2026
Just a tiny bit wordy for a picture book. But overall, the story is very good. A good lesson without feeling like there's a lesson to be learned.
January 15, 2026
Stunning art!
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February 3, 2026I adore this author. Everything they make has so much life to it. I loved looking though the Council of Lost Things and I'm sure any curious kid would too.
March 6, 2026
Oh my word, this book is so cute! It's a great book about being responsible for your things.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews