A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive
by Dave Pelzer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dave PelzerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-09-01
ISBN: 1558743669
Number of pages: 195
Publisher: HCI
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781558743663
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive
Book Review: An educational and truthful account.
Summary: 5 Stars
I applaud Dave Petzer's books: "A Child Called 'It' " and "The Lost Boy." His work is courageous and honorable. He uses a great deal of fortitude to unveil fascades abusers and the abused use. His childhood case was an extreme case, but nevertheless, one that needed to be told to a larger audience beyond his family, friends and community. His books accomplish this. I cried throughout his accounts. As a mother, I find it very disturbing that even extreme cases of abuse leave children with injuries and scars that go unnoticed or unrecognized or ignored. Petzer's mother was so ill. She forcibly held the arm of her flesh and blood -- her young child, into the flames of a lit gas stove, forced him into submersion of ice- cold bathtub water and frigthened him into submitting. She brainwashed him into believing that he was not lovable. Requiring him to sleep on an old army cot in the basement and to stay there for hours until beckoned for torture or chores reflects too how mentally ill and grossly unstable his mother {his father too} really was. Using food to punish -- to starve, a child is severely heinous. Dave accounts that his mother had starved him up to 10 days, but usually just up to three days before giving him scraps or mere morsels. Forcing a child to stay in a closed bathroom with a bucket of Clorox and ammonia, forcing him to eat vomit, feces, contaminated foods and to consume ammonia and Clorox appears to the majority of sane people as unforgivable actions. The thing that is also unforgivable is that Dave's abuse was allowed to continue throughout the majority of his childhood. What is also disturbing is that Dave's mother's doctors did not grasp any clues into her demented mental state or recognize her alcoholic history during the times she went into the hospital to give birth to the children after Dave. If they did, I wonder what they attempted to do about it. It appears they did nothing because her alcoholism continued. Her abuse of Dave continued. Certainly, her alcoholism and character-flaws should have allerted attention to a woman who gave birth to her babies in a hospital. Dave was robbed of his childhood; not only because of alcoholic parents, but because other responisible adults did not speak up, apparently. His own love for his mother or longing to be loved by his mother after everything she did, speaks from the true and pure heart of childhood innocence. Our society is robbed everytime abusers are allowed to frighten and control society with contributions to dyfunctional lifestyles. Dave took charge of his sitation -- his past, and is turning it into good. I agree with Pelzer in his quest to bring about a keener awareness of the implications and realities of child abuse. He is indeed a hero for all of us. There is one thing I disagree with in his books. He states that the abuse he experienced throughout the majority of his childhood occurred in a "normal" family. Alcoholic parents are not "normal." They are truly abnormal and ill -- psychologically and physically, and they are most likely multi-wounded -- both prior to becoming dependant on alcohol or drugs and again during the course of addiction. Many children are abused by their drug-addicted and/or alcoholic parents or caretakers. I feel that Pelzer did a terrific job of addressing issues for an abused child or children; however, he should address -- maybe in another book, the alcoholic parents and caretakers and how alcoholism increases the risks for child abuse. Alcoholics often have many facets to their drunken stupors and personalities. Alcohol makes some alcoholics very mean -- even when they are not drunk. It changes them into socially, emotionally and physically unacceptable freaks. We all should encourage parents, teachers -- responsible adults, to read Dave Pelzer's books: "A Child Called, 'It' " and "The Lost Boy." That very act itself might help save children from trauma, abuse or even death. There is no doubt that both books serve as a reality check for society, schools, doctors, nurses, attorneys. The abused have historically been ignored and forgotten. Pelzer's book illuminates the child abuse problem, but readers should be careful not to become hysterical about child protective issues. Certainly, Dave's bruises, burns and broken bones should have allerted protective authorities much earlier than they did, and their slowed reaction in rescuing him is significantly disturbing. Children have accidents that leave them with black eyes and other bruises. Children have accidents that contribute to them injuring bones. But such accidents are not normal day-in and day-out for years and years. I felt that Pelzer should have, or might consider later on, including a section on what constitutes suspicion in terms of reporting child abuse. Dave's individual case was obvious abuse, and I can't help but believe that many adult figures outside of his immediate family looked away even though they knew more than a simple suspicion. We should all keep Dave and children everywhere in our prayers.
Summary of A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive
This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."
Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.
David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care, and somewhat nurturant to her children--but not to David, whom she referred to as "an It." This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school!--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David. One wants to learn more about his ordeal and its aftermath, and now he's written a sequel, The Lost Boy, detailing his life in the foster-care system.
Though it's a grim story, A Child Called "It" is very much in the tradition of Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul and the many books in that upbeat series, whose author Pelzer thanks for helping get his book going. It's all about weathering adversity to find love, and Pelzer is an expert witness.
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