A Child Called "It" discussion

Stacey
English

A Child Called It is an extremely sad autobiography on a young boy named David Pelzer. Through out his life his alcoholic mother abused him in many different ways. I can’t say that I enjoyed the book because it is a true story and it is extremely sad. The abuse started at the very young age of five, his father was never around and didn’t know about the abuse for a while. It continued out until he was around age 12 when he was taken away from his family. The teachers had talked to his mother about the unexplainable bruises but when he came in the next day they could see how far that had gotten him. The teachers reported his abuse one final time and they removed him from the family. His mother had many torture “games” she called them. These games varied from not getting dinner all the way to forcing ammonia down his throat and everything in-between. David talks about the summer on the Russian river and how happy there family was. David had five brothers and he was the target of his mother’s rage. As the abuse became more regular he could tell what kind of day he was going to have. After a while his mother made him sleep in the basement on an old army cot. He was banned from the house other then to fallow his mother’s orders to clean and do dishes. He was not welcome to eat with the family if he was aloud to eat at all that day. If his mother thought that he had “misbehaved” she would place a plate in front of him and tell him he has a short amount of time to eat it, With out getting any of the food, she would snatch it away and tell him he was to late. David went many days with out any food. At the beginning he started stealing food from kids lunches at school after he got in trouble for that he would take food from the garbage or eat the leftovers from his family’s plates when he did the dishes. His mom soon caught on to his tricks of retrieving food, and she soon ended that. When she found out that he was taking food off the plates she stated to put the food down the garbage disposal. One time David was rummaging threw the garbage in the garage and found a pork chop. He got so exited he wolfed it down. Not to long after he got a stomach ach and diarrhea. After he asked permission to use the bathroom she turned him down and told him that he fell into her plan. She left the pork chop in the fridge long enough to let it rot knowing he would eat it. When he stole food from the cafeteria and his mother found out she made him gag himself, take his puke out of the toilet himself, put it in a bowl and later EAT IT. After that she made him gag himself daily to prove that he did not eat anything while out of the house. His mother was not a mom or a mother she was a monster. If he did not clean the bathroom in time then she would make him sit in there with the door shut and a bucket of Clorox and ammonia. The mixture would be so strong that he would cough up blood. One of the times David came home she asked him to come to the bathroom he expected the Clorox mixture but instead she filled the bath with ice cold water and made him lay in it, all the way up to his nose. These are just some of the “games” his mother played against him. He was tortured with the thought of what he did to anger his mother so badly to make him the outcast of the family. He never did figure it out because as much as she brainwashed him to believe that he was a bad kid, he was not she was a bad mother. I don’t recommend this book to some one if they do not have a strong stomach.

My teacher would had a field day with this..
But you are right, I almost couldn't stomach this book. I had to stop a few times and just clear my head. It's so sad, but it has such a heartfelt ending... I love it

It's a really sad sad story, but also a powerful one. Unbelievable a child can survive after a life like that. I can never forget the story, hope one day someone would film it.,

david was an unbelieveable child, he suffered through all the pain from his mom, and his mom was pretty cruel. and the dad was trying to protect him, and give him really good food to eat, but, david's father left him.

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK, DAVID WAS A STRONG LITTLE BOY WHO SUFFERED AS A CHILD LIVING WITH HIS MOTHER AND FATHER. THE MESTED UP PART ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION WAS THAT DAVID'S FATHER KNEW THE WHOLE TIME WHAT HIS MOTHER WAS DOING TO HIM BUT WAS TOO SCARED TO SAY ANYTHING AND HELP HIS SON.

I loved this series of books and read them some time ago now. Would recommend them to anyone to read. Not pleasant to read but such an important story to be told.Child protection is everyone's business!!!!

your right bron, i mean, this story had me cry for days............

My first book, My Remembrance, has been compared to this book, from a female perspective. I read a bit of it on the amazon site. I guess I will have to buy his book and read the whole thing, as it seems to be so similar to my own story.

I have this book and I have read it several times. I feel bad about how much this young man suffered. But he did survive and he is amazing. I love the inspiration and encouragement from his book, it took a lot to write and relive the abuse. More incredible is that he lived to tell the story and now is FREE! I say Bravo!

I'm not sure I feel anything good towards this book. Ofcourse I detest Pelzer's mother and I feel disturbed by his experience, but more than that I feel sickened. For a child, or anyone for that matter, to live through something this horrendous is not something I can stomach.

I laud Pelzer's effort to have lived through the trauma and to have emerged sane out of it. But this isn't a book I can go through again.

I had to read this book in high school and it was a sad and sickening story. To believe that a mother could torture her child like that, and that Dave could not only survive it but become the man he is today is incredible. I had to put the book down at times because it was so disturbing. I think that everyone should definitely read it, it is an amazing story.

I have had people read my book and say, "How are you so NORMAL?" I find this question to be amusing.
Perhaps Dave has faith in a higher being; many survivors of abuse do. Some survivors, however, find it difficult to believe that there is a God or any other deity who could allow them to go through such hard times.
I have forgiven my parents for what they did to us, even though they have never taken responsibility for their actions. If I had not forgiven them, I could never have written my book. It was difficult to write, as I am sure that Dave's was. When you write about such painful memories, a part of you is carried back to that time and place, reliving those experiences.

I thought that was a very sad book

I agree, this was a very sad book, but it was a story that needed to be told. What saddens me even more is knowing that there are children all over the world experiencing similar home lives who never have anyone listen to their stories. No one should have to experience what he did. Thank you, David, for sharing your story with the world.

I'm glad that he told his story and it was a really good story but it was still sad and i felt bad that he got beat up alot by his mother and that made me so mad and i couldn't believe that the father didn't step in and stop his wife from beating up david

I have a scene in my book where I am cleaning up a mess on the floor. I am a teenager at the time and my mother says something that I, in my teenage wisdom, decide deserves for her to have me stick my tongue out at her.
She was faced away at the time, cooking my dad's breakfast. Somehow, she knew what I did and retaliated.
I never saw it coming. She punched me square in the eye, causing my vision to go black for a little while.
My dad and my younger brother were at the table at the time. They both looked away and seemed to find something else very interesting at that time, rather than protest her treatment of me.
I don't know why family sometimes turns a blind eye. Perhaps it's to avoid the wrath coming down on them.

Oh that's horrible

This book makes me wonder how one person can be so cruel to another person. Even worse a mother doing all this to her OWN child. It is sad and it sickens me that so many children deal with this.

I think people are horrible

Patrice, I read somewhere that there was some sort of dispute with one or more of his brothers concerning how much of his stories are the whole truth.
As someone whose book concerns the abuse of myself and my own siblings, I can tell you that most instances are remembered by most of the children. However, my youngest brother did not see some of the abuse, or has blocked some of it out. When I bring it up to him, he says, "Did that really happen?" I have a reaction like, "How do you not remember that?"
There is often a favored child, even in homes that have abuse. That child is often sheltered from what is happening to the others.

I didn't know that

I think a lot of "recovered memories" may happen under hypnosis, which can be very unreliable.

I think i should read your book maxine

I thought you were buying my book, Christine, but nothing ever came of it.

I never got your book

This book is a masterpiece, I give Dave all the respect and credit for writing this book and putting it all out there. Its just disgusting to know that there are people like that out there in this world and people who treat their own kids like that.

~Sammy

I give Dave alot of credit on writing his own book

From experience, I can tell you that the cycle can be broken. When I was on the fence about writing my book, My Remembrance, my sister said, "We have a story to tell." I realized that we needed to offer hope to those who might otherwise think that they were destined to repeat the past.

Brenda, being abused can make a person feel so unworthy, even defective. I wanted to spread the message that we are not destined to become our abusers. Even if we are raised with abusive parents, we can choose a different path.
I am now a mother of four beautiful children and I am considered by many to be an excellent mother. My youngest child has a high-functioning form of Autism, called Asperger's Syndrome. It is amazing to me that I, who was raised in an abusive home, am able to not only overcome the past, but actually have the tools to raise such a special child.
I wrote my most recent book about him. It is called Cameron's Journey. A child like this will show a person what they are made of. I have learned a lot about myself during this whole process.

Ashanti wrote: "I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK, DAVID WAS A STRONG LITTLE BOY WHO SUFFERED AS A CHILD LIVING WITH HIS MOTHER AND FATHER. THE MESTED UP PART ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION WAS THAT DAVID'S FATHER KNEW THE WH..."

ya,he should have helped him and opened his mouth.

Madelynn wrote: "Ashanti wrote: "I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK, DAVID WAS A STRONG LITTLE BOY WHO SUFFERED AS A CHILD LIVING WITH HIS MOTHER AND FATHER. THE MESTED UP PART ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION WAS THAT DAVID'S FA..."

i would have strangled that monster if i were him, he was a coward!

This book was beyond sad and no child should have experienced what David went through.He was smart enough to use his head to get out of the situation.

Ai wrote: "It's a really sad sad story, but also a powerful one. Unbelievable a child can survive after a life like that. I can never forget the story, hope one day someone would film it.,"

Book really made me ball my eyes out and made me realize that there are really people like this out there and even though you go to school you just never know who really is being hurt deep down because we all put fake smiles on ourselves.

This book saved my life to be honest. I read this during COVID when I was 14 or 15 years old and I was like, if this kid is alive then there’s no reason why I can’t be. I had been severely abused since I was 5 or so and COVID made it so that there was no escape for me whatsoever so I got severely suicidal. It inspired me to have a voice to speak up about what was happening to me, although the system failed me every time I’m happy that he was able to get out at 12 or so instead of being like me.