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Summary: Why
Review: This book was a hard to read book for me, because of this abouse a small child has to undergo. From getting beat on a day to day basis, having to sleep by himself down in a basement on the hard cold floor, force to eat a diper, and stuck in a homemade gas chamber for up to an hour. Its hard to believe that a family could treat a member so badly that they could be in the same house and watch him starve then turn in to a skinny sack of bones. Its sad that this type of thing could happen in America but it goes on every day.
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Summary: A Child Called "It"
Review: David Pelzer's memior, A Child Called It, forces the reader to come to realization that child abuse does exist in our suposedly civilized society. His childhood experiences are enough to reduce any reader to tears. Mr. Pelzer's amazing struggle to survive first fills your soul with despair and later instills a renewed sense of hope. One can hardly finnish this memior with out a new-formed respect for social workers and those dedicated to to preventing child abuse worldwide. I recommend this book to everyone.
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Summary: A Study Material for Our Younger Generation
Review: I am currently teaching English in Hong Kong and I have deliberately chosen this as one of the required reading texts for my students. A Child Called It calls for our attention and sympathy. It is undeniable that some of the scenes in the book are rather disturbing, but it is only such disturbance that alerts us. This is not a difficult book to read. It can remind the younger generation how lucky they have already been. It is a book about how bad life can be, sometimes, and also how to overcome such obstacles. I hope my students would go to buy the sequel of the book, The Lost Boy, instead of worrying when they can break the record of any TV Games. Every book can be read and appreciated, but not every one of them can be reflected and learned. A Child Called It is one of the rare that can achieve these two purposes.
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Summary: Truely Inspirational
Review: This book is amazing...once you start reading this book you can't really stop. I got so while this book and even cried when I read what he had to go through but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't put it down. This book captures your heart and won't let you forget little Dave even after you're done reading it.
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Summary: A Child Called It
Review: >The book, A Child Called "It", by David Pelzer is a marvelous eye opener for any one not used to the subject of child abuse.
>In a basement, of a house full of cold hatred, you will find a little boy sleeping on an army cot, in the same clothes he wore all year long. The abuse from David's mother started when he was around 6 or 7 years of age. David tells us in the book, "My family was the Brady Bunch of the 1960's." When his brutal beatings started his mother called him a "bad boy". After time, the beatings became worse, and she went from calling him "bad boy" to calling him an "It". The beatings got so bad that she stabbed him with a knife, and said she was going to kill him. After going through the most horrifying years of his life, David gives up all hope on God. David has since then made a family, had a son, and now spends time with him in their secret hide out spot.
>As David said in the book, "Is she trying to make up with me? Are my days living in the basement finally over? Am I back in the family fold?" I will always wonder what it would have been like to be one of his big brothers, or what it could have been like to be his father, knowing that they could have done something. David's courage to stand up, against his mother's beatings, and win her games was amazing.
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Summary: A Child Called It
Review: A Child Called "It" I chose this book because my mother had read it and told me how inspirational this book was. The story is about how a young person has overcome his background and made a difference in his life as well as the life of others. This book is the first book in a trilogy. This book describes the early years of Dave Pelzer life. There are times in this book where you can not put it down because you want to know what happens next and then there are times when you wonder why you should continue to read it. The story is very graphic at times but no more so than his life was. This story will awaken you to the truth about child abuse and the ability we have to make a difference in the lives of these children. The book starts out with Dave's escape from his mother. In 1973 our society did not recognize the abuse of children. Things were different. Parents disciplined their children in ways that we would not think about doing now and the ones that carried it too far were not reported. People tried not to get involved. Dave was taken away from his mother after enduring many years of physical and mental abuse. The school nurse keep many records of his injuries and finally some of the teachers and administrators decided to take things a step farther. The story then reverts back to the time they spent as a normal family and how Dave and his brothers were loved and taken care of. He reflects on the many happy memories he had before conditions changed and his mother and father became alcoholics. Once the abuse started and his living conditions changed the story focuses on his struggle to survive.
The games that his mother plays with him are considered to be the second worse case of child abuse in the state of California. Dave's bed is an old army cot in the garage, his clothes are never washed and full of holes. He is starved and beaten and his mother no longer considers him one of her children but refers to him as only "it". The book goes in to many details of his every day life but only so that he can explain his ability to survive. Dave always tried to make some kind of excuse as to why his mother treated him in the way that she did. He always knew how to react to minimize the abuse and always blocked out the bad and put his mind in another place. This was his way of surviving.
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Summary: A Child Called "It"
Review: "A Child Called "It" was a very catchy book. I sat down in the library and started reading the 1st chapter and I was hooked! I never thought I would like a book that sad (I mean a boy getting abused,the 3rd worst case in CA history). That's awful! I did though, I loved it so much that I went out and bought it myself so that I could read it again and again. I have a friend that hates books, but still finished it in a few days! The only book she ever finished! I loved this book and am now reading "The Lost Boy" which I would recomend to anyone who has read "A Child Called "It". Even if you HATE books this book you will love, it might even change your wa of looking at reading!
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Summary: Touching, really makes you appreciate life.
Review: A Child Called "It" makes you look at life through the life of an abused boy. At first life for Dave is great, but it goes down hill when his mother starts doing alchohol. She doesn't feed him enough, makes him swallow ammonia, "accidentally" stabs him, makes him do the chores in time limits impossible to reach, burns him on the stove, punches him, slaps him, and much more! Now, she referrs to him as "The Boy", her slave, or an "It". His father used to be his hero, like Superman, yet now his dad is moving out! When his school nurse questions him about being abused, he denies it, but he slowly tells more and more about his life. It is a wonderful book that will fill you'r eyes with tears!
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Summary: a child called it
Review: I enjoyed reading A Child Called "It" for several reasons. One reason is because it is based on a true story. There is a lot of kids who get beaten by their parents like the character in this story named David. Reading this book was a positive experience for me because it is reality that no one thinks happens in real life.
The author of this story was able to hold my interest throughout the entire story because he briefly described what was happening throughout the whole story. He stuck to one plot throughout the story. He managed to do this by explaining to me how David was suffering throughout the story. An example of this is when David's mother stabbed him and drowned him.
The characters in the story were interesting because David's mother was an alcoholic and so was his dad and there is a lot of parents like that now a days. My favorite character was David because he was suffering throughout the whole story. He was special to me because David was an 8 year old boy getting punched, stabbed, and drowned by his mother who has much more strength than him. David's father tried to help David but his wife was the head of the household.
I learned a lot from this story because now I can imagine how parents affect kids by the way they treat them. I gained a lot from this book because there is people in the world that can't be parents. This is a book that I would recommend to my friends because this is a kind of book that would keep you interested the whole time you are reading it.
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Summary: Capturing book
Review: I've only resently finished the book. I started reading the book, and just kept on reading, all other things were put aside.
I'll guess this book needs a warning, it's not for sensitive people, it's heavy stuff, just to read about.
Dave Pelzer writes about his terrible childhood, how he was treated lower than the lowest of his mother, and how the people around him, were passive. His mother could punish him in different kind of ways, e.g not give him any supper for 10 days, force him to take a bath in freezing water for hours, pour washing-up liquid down his throat, and many more cruel ways of punishing a young boy, for no reason at all.
I got this book recommended to me, and so I will forward the recommendation to you.
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