A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer (1995, Paperback, Reissue)

This book is about the most evil of heart and soul, and one man's struggle to forgive and move forward with his life. David Pelzer's style of writing is matter of fact and unsensationalized. Slowly the reader is absolutely engulfed in the tale of a young boy who struggled to stay alive with a mentally ill mother. A woman so devoid of heart and soul that she would at every turn abuse, beat, humiliate and attempt to kill her own child. He was one of several children in the house but the brunt of every evil abuse her wicked mind could contemplate.
This story is also of the courage of the human spirit and it's will to survive even the most violent and degrading of attacks. I would challenge anyone male or female to read this book without forever being changed by it's message of hope and strength of spirit. The message of this book is so encompassing that many of my upper-grade students have been drawn to read the novel on their own.
The novel is based on a true story of Dave Pelzer. He carefully lets us into his private world of his nightmarish childhood. He does so with a harsh realization that he would die if she couldn't be stopped. We are taken along the journey with all of his thoughts and feelings about his family. The weakness of his father and the illness of his mother. We are stoically with him as a young and helpless child who is forced to wear the same tattered clothes to school every day without benefit of being able to bathe. The struggle to get enough food to sustain himself just one more day. The real tenacious desire to not let her win.
It leaves the reader hopeful that he will climb from the pit of despair and be strong enough to help others along the way. He gives the reader a true lesson of perspective in life and the importance of not giving time to roadblocks along the way. It offers a cleansing and renewing theme which will stay with anyone who reads it long after the last word. It is a message of hope and the ability to forever alter your own life's path. Carpe Diem to all and get your copy as soon as you can. You'll be glad that you did and I know you will share it with others.

A Child Called “It” is an inspiring story about a young child’s courage to survive. I think it truly is a story that everyone should read and weep about. We all have our dreadful moments and there’s this one point in life where you will say, “I hate my life. I wish I was dead!” However, once you finish reading this book, it will undeniably alter your perspective in life. It will show you how instead of wanting toys and all the latest things, a child from a young start wanted things that we take for granted, such as food, a bed, and some love. Every time I do something at home such as sleeping on my bed or eating some snacks, out of nowhere I think of Dave. It just makes me feel like crap because I know that Dave never got an opportunity to do that and for some reason, I feel guilty. I don’t know why I feel guilty, though. Maybe it’s because I’m getting things that a kid I know couldn’t even sleep on a proper bed. Even when I clean the bathroom and use some Clorox, I take a one-way ticket to Guilt City.
I personally am very close with my mom. I can converse with her about practically anything and I know that she will understand. Sometimes she doesn’t get my problems because me being a 15-year-old teenager, and she being a 33-year-old mom, we have dissimilar problems and our definition of “problem” is particularly different. However, when I talk to my mom these days, I feel exceptionally different. It just reminds me of how Dave never got to get close to his mom like that. He wasn’t even permitted to talk to her unless instructed, and here I am, joking around with my mom as if she’s my best friend.
I think people have a poor understanding about child abuse and how it affects the child. Dave Pelzer and his story is a great way to show the world what it is really like to be in the mind of an abused child. People think that once the abused child receives therapy, their life will be a walk in the park. That’s not how it is and anyone who thinks that’s true is retarded. Life will not be a walk in the park because their memories will haunt them for the rest of eternity. Dave Pelzer is the perfect example for that, too. He never received some love that a child is supposed to have in order for them to have a reason to live. He never got a mother’s love, and therapy can’t fix that.
Overall, I think this book can really teach a person that it’s not what happens, it’s how you react to what happens to you. If Dave didn’t want to live, I think he would have ended it himself a long time ago. But I think what Dave wanted was to live, and not just live in an apartment with an insane, alcoholic mother who doesn’t feed him, but he wanted to see the true wonders of life. What Dave had in himself was faith and an sanguine attitude, which lead him to be who he is today and what he is able to do with his life now. This is exactly what makes this abused child… extraordinary.

Author and survivor, Dave Pelzer. If you plan to read this true story that Dave tells about his life as a child, please prepare yourself for the horrific things you will read. It is a traumatic and tragic story. One that Dave knew the world needed to know.

In 1996 I attended an educational seminar presented by Dave Pelzer. Truly the most Horrific, Powerful, Inspirational, and Overwhelming words I have ever heard. It still brings tears to my eyes today.

Dave spoke openly about the horrific abuse he endured from his mother as a child. He told of being forced to live in the cold basement, being denied food for days, being stabbed by his mother, being locked in a bathroom with a deadly mix of bleach and ammonia, her attempt to burn him over the stove top, and many-many more abuses.

I was shocked, horrified, saddened, and amazed that he even lived through the horrific things his mother did to him in her many attempts to kill him. To look at Dave Pelzer standing on that stage and hear him speak of such atrocities performed by his own mother in an effort to teach us that the cycle of abuse can actually be broken was more than I could stand. Tears streamed down my face as I listened. I could not stop them and I did not wipe them away. Deep inside me I felt my tears needed to be shed for Dave. Chills raced through me like I have never experienced. The sadness did not leave for several days. Tears came to my eyes every time I thought about Dave.

Dave Pelzer is an Inspiration to me. Not because he survived but because he teaches others how to survive. He is a father and a man who deserves the peace he has found.

Dave Pelzer has written many compelling books. His next book, The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family followed by A Man Named Dave, and since then, many more that help parents and youth alike.

My reminder: If you plan to read this true story that Dave tells about his life as a child, please prepare yourself for the horrific things you will read. It is a traumatic and tragic story. One that Dave knew the world needed to know.

I found myself having to reread what I just read for it to sink into my head that what I had just read was actually what was written.. It's unbelievable some of the things this child went through, so much so that I actually found myself questioning whether some of the occurences where a little exagerated by the writer.. I'm not saying that he tried to make things sound worse than they may of been, its just that for being through the eyes of a child, certain occurences and thoughts didn't seem to go with the age he was suppose to be at the time/s.. Either way the book still had my total attention for the couple hours it took me to read it.. I did a lot of stopping and thinking when he started talking about the father who unbelievable allowed his wife to do this to his son!! that part bothered me the most (besides the abuse parts of course), at least my father didn't know what my mother really treated me like while he was at work till midnight.. Although I went to similar abuse, Dave went through 100 times more pain than some of us did and his first two books inspires us and helps us see that wounds and the mind can heal..

Now if only more of society would read the books, perhaps they would see that not all abused children grow up to be abusers too and so forth like they seem to love to blame on reason why bad people do what they do as adults!!!

Awesome books and MUST haves to read!!! I hope the third book tells what justice did to his mother AND father though...

PS: someone stated in a review here """Also usually in households where children are abused it isn't just one child. Why single out just him? """
unfortunately a lot of times it IS one child that is singled out and who is the one a parent decides to take out their life problems/frustrations/mental problems on instead of the person that causes it to them!!! I've found often it is also the firstborn at that, perhaps the abusers see them as the reason their lives took the paths they have..who knows :-(

I thought that the book was great in the aspect that it gave an abused child's point of view but to me some things didn't totally agree. I found it strange that a boy could go to school with a dislocated shoulder and have no one notice. It wasn't until like the 5th grade that any of the school teacher's or administrator's decided to take action for this abused child. How could it have taken them that long to notice? Couldn't the teacher's be at fault somehow for not noticing. I would think that a red flag would have popped up with he is consistantly stealing food. Instead of maybe investigating why he may be stealing it they simply called his mother which in reality only made his siutation worse. I also find it hard to believe that his father was like that. He knew his son was being abused and CHOSE not to do anything about it. He could have easily gotten the authorities involved and had his wife taken away and gained custody of his children. Also usually in households where children are abused it isn't just one child. Why single out just him? I felt that the story may have been exaggerated. But if it is written through a child's eyes...then maybe it should be exaggerated because some children exaggerate situations. I just felt that maybe some of the memories maybe have been distorted since somethings just don't add up. Don't get me wrong what happend to him was wrong and shouldn't happen to any child. Abuse should be taken seriously no matter how exaggerated.