The Boy Called It

"A Child Called It" the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in the history of California. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally mother. a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable, as he would call it, 'games' that left him nearly dead. It looks at how he had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive, because she no longer thinks of him a son, but a slave and no longer a boy, but an "it."

"To take a small look at what David had to take from his mother he had an old army cot in the basement he look forward to when he slept he had dreams of happyness. His clothes were torn and old. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. He describes how his mother would starve him, often for days on end or would give him just two minutes to eat his brothers' leftovers. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare, except for a few suspicious people who did not do much about it. He had nothing and no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive. He would often dream of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son, appreciating his existence."The few people who took notice were David's teachers and the school nurse. Yet it took them a considerable amount of time to finally build up suspicion and finally report Dave's problems to the proper authorities. I find the unreported instances seen by the public to be just as substantial a crime as the child abusers themselves.