Rating: 
Summary: A Child Called It
Review: 'A Child Called It'The book 'A Child Called It' is probably the best book I have ever read. The book is about a boy whose Mother is very abusive. She makes him sleep on a cot in the basement and gives him little to nothing to eat everyday. At one point in the story, she stabs him with a knife. And this book and the other three that the author, Dave Pelzer has written, are based on a true story. All of the stuff in the book actually happened to him. If you haven't read the book yet, you may think that it is cruel how some one could do this to their own child. I have read the first book, 'A Child Called It' and the second book, 'The Lost Boy' and I still have yet to read the third, 'A Man Named Dave'. The last book I believe is about him when he is older and his life is much better than it was when he was a child.
Reading this book helped be to realize how lucky I am to have a bed to sleep in and food to eat everyday. Reading this book can help you realize that too! By:
Shannon T*
Rating: 
Summary: SAVE YOUR MONEY!!
Review: It's a good read, but I really hate to think I was duped into purchasing not one, not TWO, but THREE of this guy's books to find out what happens (when, in reality, it should have been a compilation under one dust jacket.) This guy is a MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER! This is how he makes a living! The books are fairly good, but full of inconsistencies. The title book, A Child Called It..... is a good example. Only once does his mother call him, "IT"....but if you buy his last book in the series the phrase is peppered throughout. Did he just get his memory working whilst penning the third episode in this tragic saga, or did his IMAGINATION get better by then? Up to you to decide, but as an avid reader of non-fiction works I've read enough to know I don't believe him. Another example I found was in the profound memories this 4-year-old child has. Nobody thinks that way as a kid.....who remembers details so vividly at the age of 4!?! If you want to waste your money on a non-fiction read, buy this book. However, if you'd like to read a good STORY, then you've found one in Pelzer's works. I know this guy suffered some form of abuse, it is recorded in the county records, but as the episodes morph into more bizzare forms of punishment as you buy each installment, I think there is a bit of exaggeration going on here. One point in the last book he writes that his own wife doesn't believe him. Well, no wonder. The story just keeps e x p a n d i n g. I think that she has hit upon the one last morsel of REAL truth; that she didn't believe him and neither should we. If I could get my money back, I'd gladly do it!...
Rating:
Summary: A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive
Review: A Child Called It is based on a true story about David Pelzer's, who is also the author, fight for life. David's mother was once the perfect mother always having exotice dinners and teaching him stuff in ways that he would remember it. But then his mother starts becoming hateful towards David. It started out with little things like not letting him eat dinner, but then it would get worse for example she wouldn't let him eat for ten days. She would also make him do chores, she would hit him. David's Dad also was once a caring and loving father towards David but once David's mother went crazy on the family, his father started to come home less to avoid being part of her craziness. At first his father tried fighting back but he always lost the fight with his wife, and got David in more of a hole than when he was in berfore. At first David took everything straight to his heart, anything his mother did made him cry, but after awhile he grew tougher and learned to not take anything his mother said to the heart. He started stealing from his classmates lunch boxes because he was never feed any breakfast and rarely fed dinner. After awhile people started getting suspicious and David got caught which was then reported to his mother. his mother beat him until he was balck and blue all over, David only cried to please her and make her stop beating him. His mother was always coming up with new ideas of how to make his life miserable. For example. she would put ammonia and Clorox in a a bucket and lock David in the bathroom and make him clean it. The mixture created a gray cloud that within minutes filled the whole room, suffocating David. David was a smart boy however, he would go next to the air vent that was in the bathroom and he would breathe in the fresh air, once he got some fresh air he would start cleaning the room gradually. David's mother once loved David. but then alcohol became a big pat of her life, because of the alcohol and the family problems she hated him. David survived his horrible childhood and he now benefits from what he went through as a child, he doesn't take little things for granted like most people do.
Rating:
Summary: A Child Called "It" : One Child's Courage to Survive
Review: A Child Called "It" is a true story about a young boy named Dave Pelzer. It was one of he most severe child abuse cases in the history of California. Years before he was abused, his family could have been considered the "Brady Bunch" of the 1960s. Dave and his 2 brothers had been blessed with perfect parents and every whim was fulfilled with love and care. But after that his relationship with his mom drastically changed from discipline to punishment that grew out of control. Around that time all his mother would do was spend the entire day on the couch in her bathrobe watching TV and drinking beer while her husband was at work. From then on Dave could tell what his day would be like, if she came out with a nice dress on and her face made up he knew it was going to be a good day, but if she came out in her bathrobe he knew that it was going to be a day full of abuse. What she would do is play "games" with him, for example she would make him do all the chores she could think of and then not feed him. If he was lucky he would get the the leftovers, which consisted of soggy cereal left from his brother's bowls that weren't even suitable for a dog to eat. Some other "games" she would do was lock him in the bathroom with a mixture of ammonia and Clorox, make him throw up after school to check if he had stolen and eatin any food and if he had she made him eat his own regurgitated food. Also she mad him sleep on an army cot in the cold garage. His father new about it but did nothing to stop it, he was once Dave's hero but when he left him all Dave felt towards him was anger. Why his mom chose him to be her target, we still don't know. I often wonder why Dave's mom suddenly changed into a bitter woman, and how Dave found the strength and courage to survive all those years of abuse.
I thought over all that the book was extremely good, well written and detailed. In a way his story is easy to relate to and in some ways its not. how it's easy is that all he wants to do is fit in with the croud and school and be treated like a human being and a lot of kids have to go through that as they grow up. It's difficult to relate to because no one knows the pain he had to go through.
Rating:
Summary: A Child Call "IT"
Review: I think this book is very good for children and for adult,so they know what is happening & how to stand up for there selves. Also so they could under stand what it could be like to be abused and to be in foster care. i know that it must not be easy for any one and plus my bf is a foster child so that helped me under stand.
Well thank you for reading this bye
Rating:
Summary: Heart warming!
Review: I started reading your first book when I was 15, I couldn't put it down. I never use to read, but once reading 3 of your books - 'A child called it', 'The lost boy' and 'A man named Dave', its made me look a lot closer to live, and the way people get treated, in many different ways. I am now nearly 17, and cant wait to read the rest of your books.
Thank you so much for letting me become the person i never thought i could be!
Rating:
Summary: Heart wrenching, life changing
Review: I had to put this book down on numerous occassions because it made me physically ill to read the true hell that was put upon this poor, helpless child by his own mother. You can never imagine what he went through, she forced him to eat his own vomit and the dirty diaper of his baby brother! I gag as I even write this now. But he survived, it is a rallying cry for those being abused, you to can survive - surely if this author did.
Rating:
Summary: The fastest read I've ever had! Could not put it down
Review: This was one of the most well-written books I've ever read. It affected me in ways I've never been affected by a book. I read it in about 3 hours, cover to cover. It was absolutely impossible to put down. It made me sad, angry, disgusted, relieved and proud. It truly amazes me that David Pelzer came through that severe abuse and is now a decent, basically normal person. People with that kind of childhood sometimes end up on drugs, a serial killer or dead. David triumphed over evil and he should be damn pround of himself. I remember seeing him on Montel years ago when this book first came out and he inspired me then. This book just strenghtened my admiration for him. I can't wait to read the other two books in the series. He's an excellent author.
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
|
