David J. Pelzer

Tells the story of a child's abuse at the hands of his alcoholic mother

One Child's Courage to Survive

A Child Called It

Dave Pelzer

Dave Pelzer was beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother. This book covers the early years of his life and is an affecting look at the horrors of child abuse and the determination of one child to survive against the odds.

An Abused Child's Journey from Victim to Victor

A Child Called "It"

ayoni

Pojken som kallades Det

All I can say is that I finished this book crying, no person should ever have to go through things like this.

i should’ve not read this at age 13 i don’t even entirely have the stomach for this book now

Ghofran Mustafa 

It was heartbreaking and disturbing read.
Anyhow! I felt like Mr Pelzer wrote this book as fast as he could, like there's a lot of things stays without an answer to it. Let alone the timeline was confusing a bit.
So I'm confused here, was this supposed to be a memoir or what?!
If it is! I didn't feel like it was.

Painfully intriguing. You want to put the book down every pages but you physically just can’t. 

lex 📖

Emelie

Discusting how a mother can treat her child this way!

Lana Palacios

This book is absolutely heartbreaking in the best way possible. When Pelzer lists all of the horrid things his mother did to him, the reality of these situations really sets in. This isn't another fiction book with a character and crappy parents—no. This story was real. And there are so many other children going through it right now across the globe. Hearing that he has children of his own must have been terrifying for him, but he used his experience with his mother to raise his children so much better, and much less cruel. 

I'd recommend this book to older youth, or adults, seeing as people on the more mature side of the scale would understand this and its devastating tale much more.

ashley hopkins

I normally wouldn't read books like this, but it was the first book we read for our book club that my friend had started. Hints the reason for reading it. I've read alot of reviews on it, and some have me wondering if this is actually a believable story. I do have to say if the stuff that he talks about happend to him as a child it's beyond horrifying. I mean the things his mother would do to him; locking him in the bathroom with bleach and making him clean, to no food for days at a time, sleeping on a cot in the garage. I don't understand how through all that happened his dad didn't do anything he sat there watching this neglect. I mean this poor child had no one to stick up for him. It did read like it was being told from his point of view as a little kid. At first it's starts really good his family was happy they did things together picnics and all. the one day something inside his mom flipped and bang. What's worse is that this only happened to him and not his older brother. Like I said I normally wouldn't take a second look at a book like this, but it was chosen for us. I guess I could have put it down and stopped, but I was wrapped up in this little boys experience.

Now on the other hand I've heard where it's complete lies and that his life wasn't at all like he described in his book. So if that's the case it's really sad that he would use something so traumatic for others just to make a few dollars.

Either way it was an ok read and easy, but be warned it's not for the faint-hearted

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Alexandra Gillgrass

This book is not an enjoyable read, but it's a story worth reading. 

I pretty much went into this quite blind only knowing it was about child abuse. It will definitely have more of an impact that way. I won't review this as I would a normal novel because it isn't a novel, it's real life, and all the horrible events that occurred really happened to David. 

This is a really short book and you could easily read it a day, which is probably just as well as any longer it would have been unbearable. This book is written very well and is very engaging with the reader. You can feel David's pain and suffering through the pages and will get you incredibly emotional at times. 

It is one of the most gripping and heart wrenching books I have ever read, and will leave you feeling incredibly numb, and for most people, incredibly lucky.

A real eye opener about pain, suffering and one child's courage to survive. 

Would highly reccommend

Tijana Kovac

This book just blew my mind. I think I was close to tears at more than one point whilst reading this. I feel very sympathetic to Dave, I can't even to begin to imagine what having such a horrid mother would do to him. This book was very..disturbing and I'm glad that Dave has been able to share such an experience with strangers. But I guess I just didn't like reading about such terrible things, although I couldn't put it down.Overall it was good, but I probably won't read this because of the monstrosity of it all.

Signe

Reader Rabbit

jane

Audrey

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.

A Child Called It One Child's Courage to Survive

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