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

A Child Called "It" is the story of the childhood of Dave Pelzer. Do to his mother's drinking problem, he suffers severe punishments, which he refers to as "games." Some of the "games" are deadly, frightening, and down right malicious. She grinds down her second son's self esteem by forcing him to wear the same clothes to school day after day.
His world turns upside down when he was only four years old, when the abuse began. Unlike most abusive parents, Dave's mother focuses on him and his other brothers are left unharmed. It isn't until after he is rescued that his mother turns on his younger brother, Russell.**
Thanks to some staff at his school, he is rescued from his mother. The years he spends in foster care are written about in his book, The Lost Boy.
**Russell is not his brother's real name. In his books, he changes his brother's names.

I read this book about ten years ago, after my first child had turned one and as I read it I found myself picturing my child as David. I connected with him in that way- like a real loving mother should have.
I've never forgot the horror that he went through and still cannot believe that it's true. I was happy to read that he finally escaped his terrible monster of a mother, but then saddened deeply to read that his brother was his mother's next victim.
This story is truly one of brutal courage and not for the faint of heart. I was truly touched by David and he lives in my heart to this day.

This is a moving story of a child's efforts to survive extraordinary torturous and prolonged child abuse at the hands of his evil unrelenting mother. Sadly his fathers and siblings stood by and let it happen. Starved, beaten, humiliated and unloved this child survived the hellish and horrendous childhood of one's worst nightmare.

This is the first book of a trilogy that exposes the worst of abuse through the eyes of the abused. I recommend that it be read by parents, teachers, social workers, and all who are in a position to recognize, intervene, and prevent child abuse.

Thank you Dave for revealing your story and doing your part to protect children from abuse.

A true story about the third worst case of child abuse in California at a time when child abuse was not acted upon. This book was hard to put down; I read it in an evening. Mr. Pelzer tells about the brutal abuse he experienced from his mother, yet more poignant was his dad's reaction to it, or perhaps I should say failure to react. The book brought me to tears, telling of a child's survival mechanisms during the horrible abuse afforded him by his demented, cruel mother.

No child should have to go through this. I know the mother was mentally ill. I hope in death she is finally at rest