A Child Called It Book Review

A Child Called “It” by David Pelzer is his own autobiography of his life as a child being abused by his alcoholic mother, Catherine Roerva Pelzer, who isolates him from the family, then abuses him, and nearly killed him through starvation, poisoning, and once stabbing him. Since Mother starved him for days, he began to steal food in order to survive, and when she finds out he has stolen food, she abuses him with her own “games”. Dave reflects on the “good times” in his childhood, because Mother was once a wonderful, loving mom, but the drinking habit, illness, and Father being gone took over her life, leaving both emotional and physical scars on her child which will haunt him for life. His father, Stephen Joseph Pelzer, a fireman in San Francisco, is a frightened man who as watches Dave is beaten, starved, and humiliated. Mother has stopped calling him by name; instead she would refer him as “the boy” to “it”. He was starved for 10 consecutive days, stabbed, forced to eat his brother’s diaper and a spoonful of ammonia, burned over a gas stove, stayed in the bathroom with ammonia resulting in a near fatal outcome, smashed his face into the mirror while screaming "I'm a bad boy", lying in the bathtub naked with freezing water for hours. On March 5, 1973, after nearly 8 years of abuse, David, then aged 12, teachers from Dave's school risked their jobs by telling a police officer about his bruises, scars, and other visible marks of abuse.

This book is a very sad story, but a captivating story. This will impact many other readers. Dave sure can survive a horrifying childhood at the age of four until the age of 12. A Child Called “It” is not a very long book to read, but is a great book that will want you to finish the entire book because it is has an interesting story. This story makes you want to help every child that is abused.

I would recommend this book to anyone, especially to parents; since this book will give you a meaning to the life you have and realize how lucky you and I are with parents who support us. Even though it’s tragic, it will show a very important message to everyone. I learned that if something was once good can always turn into something bad, and never can go back to where it begin. I also recommend the next two books, “The