A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer, is a story based on a real life story of a boys tribulations with his mothers shocking abuse; which was by far the worst case in California's history. When he was younger Dave and his family were considered the "perfect" family or "The Brady Bunch". Then all of a sudden his mother and father became alcoholics and had problems in their relationship. Which caused Dave to getting the worst treatment imaginable. His mother randomly started to treat him as if he was a nobody or an "It". His father wouldn't do anything about it and it made Dave grow to hate him. He had two other brothers Richard and Stephen; they didn't get any of their mother's harsh beatings nor tortures they were spoiled in fact. She did many horrible things to David that he will never forget like starving him weeks at a time without giving him even a morsel of food. He had to steal food from stores and the school to survive. One day he stole hot dogs from the school cafeteria and someone caught him; when he got home his mother made him puke it up and then eat it again. She almost went to the extent of making David eat his baby brother's dirty diaper during a family camping trip. Another incident that followed that was when David was cleaning the kitchen floor for his mother; she all of a sudden stormed into the kitchen and started yelling at him, "You've made my life a living hell!" ,she sneered, "Now it's time I show you what hell is like!". Right after she said that she grabbed him by the arm, turned on the gas stove, and burned the flesh on his arm. She then proceeded to make him take off his clothes and lay on top of the flames. She tortured him for no reason except for her own sick pleasure. She would also make him drink ammonia, wear tattered clothes, sleep in the garage on an army cot with one sheet, and she even went to the extreme measure of stabbing him and not taking him to the hospital but simplying say "Now go to the garage" as if she hadn't done anything terrible. This story ended with Dave saying the Lord's Prayer and praying for God to save him from his living hell. The sequel to this book is called "The Lost Boy."