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

Rating:
Summary: "The Child Who Survives"
Review: A Child Called "It" is a depressing story about a young boy who is abused by his mother. The abused boy's name is David. At the beginning the family was very happy and they had a great life together. The whole family would go on trips to the park, and have picnics. After the youngest son, Kevin, was born, Mom started to drink all the time and she would get really violent.

Mom would make David sleep in the garage without blankets or heat, on an old army cot. She would yell at David, and make him do all of the household chores and if he didn't finish on time she would beat him or she wouldn't feed him. She made him ask to do anything even talk. He wasn't allowed to look directly into her eyes. He wasn't allowed to play outside with the other little boys. She would deprive him of food for up to seven days. If he didn't finish his chores then he would have to run to school and wouldn't be able to have a ride in the car like his brothers. His brothers wouldn't say anything because they were scared they would get beaten also.

When David would finally get to school he would have to go into the nurse's office and she would have to get his body checked for bumps and bruises that weren't there the day before. When he would get home, he wasn't allowed to eat dinner with the family because he wasn't "worthy" to sit with them. Mom started to call him "The boy." After a few months she started to call him "It."

I thought A Child Called "It" was a heartbreaking book that keeps you interested because you want to find out if he makes it out alive and what awful thing his mom would do to him next. I found out this is a true story, and it is the third worst case of child abuse in the state of California.

I would recommend this book to everyone because I think people should know what child abuse will do to a child, and the end result of the abuse. I thought this book was great, not for the meaning but it makes is to you visualize what is going through the child's head. I almost started to cry when I read some of the parts. If you want to know what happens you should read this book also. -Ashley Stiles--

Rating:
Summary: this is a great book for everyone in the family to read
Review: I think this book is a great book for everyone to read i feel how the little children feel when they are beaten i hope that the world well stop this and keep the place/world a beter place were childern can live this book inspierd me to not beat my childern and to help other people who are beaten i also would like to say to dave that i am sorry that your mother did that to you and would ever think of beating you and for brain washing you to think your a "bad boy" when your really not

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Summary: Survivor
Review: A Child called It by Dave Pelzer was a really interesting book. It is about a little boy, David, who was always beaten by his mother. His brothers would always tease him and his father practically left him all the time.

David would go to school every morning and he would have to go straight to the nurse's office because they had to make sure he didn't have any new marks from his mother. David had to do all of the chores and NOBODY was able to help him. If he didn't get done with all of the chores he was beaten until his mother gave up on hitting him. David's father was never there for him through all the bad times and if he was then he was getting drunk with his mother. The only thing he was able to eat was his brother's leftovers. The I felt terrible while reading this book because I would hate to be David. The only thing that he ever did was get beaten and do all of the chores.

I recommend this book to everybody so that they will see everything that David had to go through. A Child Called It has a really important meaning to it. Always believe in your insides even through the toughest times. --Tommie

Rating:
Summary: A Child Called it
Review: I would give this book 10 stars if I could. Reading this book has actually changed the way I think about life. Never take anything for granted. Dave had such a hard life and reading his story makes me think how grateful I am to have loving parents. I would love to meet Dave just to tell him how highly I think of him. I would treat him like I would treat the president if I were to meet him. I think Dave is a really strong person and going through what he went through must be so hard for him, but he carries himself very well. Going around the world and helping others makes a big difference in their lives. If you could read this Dave I just want to tell you your a great person and you deserve the world.

Rating:
Summary: Must Read
Review: This book was a real page turner. I could not put this book down until I finished it. I read the whole book in a single day. It is hard to believe that any mother could hate her child so much.

I am a new foster parent and felt this book might give me an idea of what a child may have had to go through so that I could better help them. I was blown away at how well written this book was. I recommend anyone wanting to be or already a foster parent should read this book. This is a brave young boy and all I wanted to do was pull David out of the book and give him a big hug and let him know I was there for him.

A MUST read book!

Rating:
Summary: A real tearjerker...
Review: Dave begins life with a good mom and a dad that he considers his hero. Suddenly, for reasons unknown things take a turn for the worst and his once loving mom becomes a crazy, abusive mom. Dave has to try to survive the horrendous abuse he receives from his mom. With the daily fight he has with his mom we wonder how much longer he will survive. Finally, Dave's school teachers save him and it seems that life will get better.
Dave is a public-speaker, author, adn a survivor of child abuse. As an adult he wrote a trilogy of his life. Dave married, got divorced and married again. He has a son with his first wife. Dave has received many awards since about 1990. While writing his books he traveled the country speaking against child abuse. Also, he worked as a counselor and a youth service worker, among doing other things. This man has done a lot throughout his life.
I really enjoyed this book. This was one of those books that you really couldn't put down. It was sad, but you have to think that Dave lived this life and its so unreal. The book made me wonder why would a mom do this to her own son. My question went unanswered. Although it was a really sad book and it was crazy that this really happened to someone it makes you realize how many problems we do have in the world.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I work with children in a Psychiatric Hospital and I have never really had an insight to abuse-victims lives. When this Hero wrote this book, he completely brought everything inside of himself. It is so difficult to express yourself completely when you go through such pain, because the self wants to hide and forget that those things ever happened. Dave Pelzer is an Emotional Giant and truly has the gift of words. You can't help but feel a overwhelming sense of Empathy. This book has truly changed me. It has changed my awareness of these Children forever. Thank you!

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Summary: Kate's review
Review: This book was a very sad book. To read this book and know every single detail about this kids life really gets to you. It actually gave me goose bumps all over my body to know that parents could do such a horible thing to their child. It really disguisted me to know that, that it actually happened. But later on it started to get a lot better and he actually lived to tell his story. And he even wrote more than just one book about his life and the horrific events that took place in his life.

Rating:
Summary: A Poignant Story About a Child's Struggle to Survive
Review: This book tells the story of David Pelzer, a victim of California's third worst case of child abuse. The book, written by David himself, chronicles his life as a terrified young child growing up with an abusive, alcoholic mother and a spineless father who simply turned away when the abuse started. Over the course of several years, young David was forced to endure abuse that is almost impossible to comprehend. He never received regular meals, he was forced to sleep in the garage which would got very cold at night, his drunken mother tried to force him to lie down on a lit stove, he was stabbed in the abdomen, yet his mother refused to take him to the hospital for medical care. He was simply sent back to his worn-out army cot in the basement.

Soon, David turned to stealing food from other children at school. This worked for a while, but word soon got back to his mother, who beat him severely for his stealing.

The abuse suffered by David was not just physical; it was emotional and verbal as well. David's mother soon quit referring to him by his name. He soon became "the boy", and finally "it". He was never allowed any interaction with the rest of his family. He simply remained in his own little world while the rest of the family ate their meals and did other family things. David was then forced to clean up after the family's meals within a specified time or he would receive another beating from mother. If he made it, sometimes he was "rewarded" with a few left-over scraps from the dirty plates. This type of abuse continued for years. The only thing that kept David going was his desire for someone to love him, take care of him, and call him their son.

I cried several times while reading this book. I immediately thought of my own son while reading and how much I love him. It is incomprehensible to me how anyone could possibly harm a young, defenseless child.

This book rates as one of the best I've ever read. As a father of two young children with another on the way, I simply cannot comprehend how someone could abuse their own children so severely. Granted, David's mother and father both had severe drinking problems, but that is no excuse for abuse. Also, why was David singled out? None of the other children were ever abused. David deserves tremendous credit for surviving for so long. Without his strong courage and desire to live, he probably would have ended up dead. All children are a blessing. Parents should be thankful for their children and love them unconditionally. They are gifts from God.

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Summary: Transparency Of Darkness
Review: David Pelzer takes you on an endless journey of a family that was once seemingly normal, which suddenly turned bleak and hostile. Based on an autobiographical depiction, the book runs intense with emotion, penetrating the hearts of those who possess the courage to read it. With ingenious chronological order, as well as powerful imagery: we are taken to the darkened realm in the life of a young, grieving soul of an abused child. Furthermore, the reader feels mystified, afflicted, sorrowful, and triumphant. The sentences pour unto the psyche, never to be forgotten.