A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive

This book broke my heart, made me angry, but most of all made me realize that these sorts of things happen everyday, behind closed doors, with no one knowing. I love kids and kids love me. No kid should endure what he went through. I was so angry at this child’s mother. In saying that, it’s a great read, and made me pay more attention to the people around me. Don’t be afraid to challenge when you think a child is being abused. Force the narrative and save the next child.

In the beginning of the book A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer has a normal, peaceful childhood. Dave enjoys his day to day life by going on family trips with his two older brothers and loving, affectionate parents. But one day, while in elementary school Dave’s life takes a drastic change for the worst. Both of Dave’s parents excessively begin to drink, and his mother begins to exhibit irrational behavior towards Dave, even while she is sober. Dave’s mother begins to administer severe, cruel punishments and playing horrific and cruel mind games. While the older brothers and the children that come later are spoiled and loved. Soon Dave becomes the family servant. Dave’s mother tortures and beats him, she also refused to let Dave participate, in any family activities, including meals. Dave’s father fails to stand up for Dave, even when he sees the physical and emotional anguish his son endures by his mother. Dave, soon after no longer has a name; they simply call him The Boy. Dave’s mother uses food as a weapon and regularly starves Dave. At one point his mother prevents Dave from eating for ten days. Due to this Dave repeatedly gets into trouble at school for eating out of trash cans and stealing food. At the end of each school day his mother makes him vomit, so she can see if Dave ate anything she didn’t approve of. Dave’s mother also forces him to wear the same smelly cloths day after day. But because Dave was forced to wear the same cloths day after day and because of his stealing food, Dave quickly become an outcast at school as a student. Dave’s mother also coaches Dave about what to say when teachers and administrators ask about the bruises on his body. Dave’s mother injures him severely a few times, including the time she stabs him in the stomach, and then refuses to give or get him medical attention. One day, Dave’s mother tries to lovingly apologize to him for all of the horrible things that have happened to him, and asks if they can start over again. Dave was thrilled at the prospect of being welcomed back into the family. But, just in as little as a few days of joy and acceptance, Dave’s family is visited by a child protective agent. Dave finally realizes that his mother was only trying to humor him so he wouldn’t tell the truth about the abuse. After the agent leaves, Dave’s life returns to its abusive state. Both of Dave’s older and younger brothers, terrorize and despise Dave, as well. Dave’s father continues to be too intimidated by Mother to stand up for or rescue him. Dave at this point no longer needs to hear his mother make him repeat himself, by saying “I hate myself! I hate myself”. Dave already hates himself for his weakness, and he feels nothing but anger for everyone around him. Dave’s classmates beat and torture him emotionally. His classmates and his mother all tell Dave that they wished he were dead. Dave’s father eventually leaves, and that makes Dave unprotected from his mother. Through the years of torment, Dave develops strategies for staying alive and avoiding his mother’s wrath of fury. While Dave was in the fifth grade, his teachers, the administrators, and the school nurse decided that they could no longer let Dave suffer in silence any longer. The police were called, and Dave was then removed from the care of his mother. Dave is finally free. I loved this book and therefore have given it a five-star rating. The part that I most liked in this book is the part where Dave was finally and successfully rescued. I find that the author’s style of writing is very unique. I can honestly say that I can relate to this book, because I like Dave am a victim and a survivor of child abuse. A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive

A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive is a very powerful and emotional book. This is the first I have read from this author. The author shares his terrible experiences with child abuse. I say child abuse, but it was pure and simple torture. Starting out as a regular family, with happy parents and brothers, David thinks he's got everything he needs. Things seem to turn on a dime with his mother, being the dominant one in the family. At first, his father tries to help him and stick up for him, but eventually his father is worn down by his mother, and no matter what his wife does to The Boy, he turns a blind eye. David is the one of the family where his mother focuses her anger and her sadistic torture, while the other boys in the family, are untouched and deflated to the point that they believe that David is a bad boy. The torture includes starvation, being beaten if he steals food so he can eat, or eats out of the trash. David does his best as a child to think of ways to eat or get even a morsel of food, but his mother always catches on. Evil would not describe this person. However, young David is resilient, sometimes he wishes he would just die to get it over with, and other times, he is determined to live and leave this place. Family, friends, neighbors, schools see the abuse, but do not do anything about this. After dehumanizing him by taking away his name, calling him The Boy, she added another depth of torture, by telling him he was It. The abuse is in the 70's, when David was a young child, and it was just the start of people thinking that things like that should not be happening. David was labeled the smelly kid who stole food, making him an outcast in school. It is definitely an emotional rollercoaster, making you want to cry, while also cheering David's strength, even at his weakest point. His mother stabbed him. Beat him. Put him in what he called her gas chamber game, where she locked him in the bathroom, adding Bleach and Ammonia for it's poisonous gas. Eventually, someone at his school finally had enough of him coming with bruises, torn and worn, unwashed clothes. Some pages, you end up reading slower than others, so not to miss anything. I must say that David was very brave as a child, and to him, thank you for sharing his story. There are more books in this series, and I already have ordered them, and await their arrival. A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive is a definite recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I read this book to give my unbiased and honest review. Amy's Bookshelf Reviews recommends that anyone who reads this book, to also write a review.

A really good book. I couldn't put it down. Definitely will recommend this book.

The book had several blank pages in the middle. Luckily, my daughter was able to download a pdf of the book to read those missing pages.

I got this because we read it in high school. Definitely the saddest book I have ever read but it was a great comeback story. Makes you great full for the little things in life.

This story makes you think: how and why?! But if you read between lines, you start to comprehend how it can get there. There is kindness and evil. Empathy and hate. I just love the hole of it. I would have like to knwo a little more of where all the people in the book ended, but I also realize it's not poosible. Even then , it's good to here how the author really pulled through and became a fnatastic huma being.

Auf dieses Buch wurde ich aufmerksam weil eine Mitreisende in der Bahn es in der deutschen Version gelesen hat. Es überrascht und schockiert einen immer wieder wozu Eltern fähig sind, man denke z.B. an den hierzulande aufgeflogenen Fall Fritzl oder einen vor ca. einem Jahr in den USA publizierten Fall wo eine Sekte angeblich ein Kleinkind verhungern ließ - im Beisein der Mutter! Wobei man nie sicher sein kann ob die Medien diese Berichte nicht aufbauschen oder verzerrt darstellen, doch hier wird aus der Sicht eines persönlich Betroffenen geschildert und man muss sich immer wieder vor Augen führen, dass es sich dabei nicht um Fiktion handelt, sondern dass Dave Pelzer das beschriebene Martyrium selbst erlebt hat. Seine Mutter, die ihn in den ersten Jahren ganz normal behandelt hat, dürfte eine sehr dominante Person sein, der es immer wieder gelang, andere zu manipulieren, insbesondere ihren eigenen Mann, der als Berufsfeuerwehrmann in der Lage war, andere zu retten, der aber bei seinem eigenen Sohn jämmerlich versagte. Was mich ein wenig verwundert hat, war, dass sich auch David's Lehrer so lange täuschen ließen, immerhin müsste man ihr doch den jahrelangen exzessiven Alkoholgenuss angemerkt haben, als sie einmal persönlich in der Schule erschien um zu schildern wie "schwierig" ihr Sohn wäre. Auffallend ist auch, dass David seine Mutter meist als "The Mother" bezeichnet, nur gelegentlich lässt er sich zu einem "The Bitch" hinreißen. Was meiner Meinung nach auch gut hervorgehoben wird, ist die Gehirnwäsche, der David von seiner Mutter unterzogen wurde, was sich in völlig unangebrachten Schuld- und Schamgefühlen seinerseits äußert. Ein mitreißender Appell an alle aufmerksam zu sein und nicht wegzuschauen, denn Fälle von schwerer Kindesmisshandlung gibt es leider immer wieder.

Fast delivery , and a good read.

His was extremely abusive. Some of us had it less or in other ways and some of us had multiple abusers. Some of us also tried to protect our siblings but to no avail. This book will make you cry and also show you survival tactics children use to cope. It show how resilient we can be and also how it could have all ended so drastically. Glad he made it out. I am female.

Here I've Given Five Star For The Writer. In Love With This Amazing