Title: A Child Called “It” Author: Dave Pelzer Number of pages: 181 Date of Publication: 1993 Summary: A Child Called “It” is a story based on a real life boys tribulations with his mothers shocking abuse. When he was younger Dave and his family were considered the “perfect” family. Then, all of a sudden his mother and father started drinking and had problems in their relationship. Dave started getting the worst treatment imaginable. His mother all of a sudden treated him as a nobody or an “It”. His father wouldn’t do anything about it and it made Dave hate him. She did many horrible things to him that he will never forget. He had two other brothers but they didn’t get any of their mother’s harsh beatings or tortures. David’s mother would starve him weeks at a time without giving him even a morsel of food. He had to steal food from stores and the school to survive. One day he stole hot dogs from the school cafeteria and someone caught him. When he got home his mother made him puke it up and then eat it again. She almost went to the extent of making David eat his baby brother’s feces. Another incident was when David was cleaning the kitchen floor for his mother. She all of a sudden stormed into the kitchen
and started yelling at him. “You’ve made my life a living hell!” she sneered. “Now it’s time I show you what hell is like!” Right after she said that she took him by the arm, turned on the gas stove, and burned the flesh on his arm. She then proceeded to make him take off his clothes and lay on top of the flames. She tortured him for no reason except for her own sick pleasure. She would also make him drink ammonia, wear tattered clothes, sleep in the garage, and she even went to the extent of stabbing him and not taking him to the hospital. This story ended with David saying the Lord’s Prayer and praying for God to save him from his living hell. The sequel to this book is called “The Lost Boy.” Rating: 9 Evaluation This is one of the best, yet saddest books that I have ever read. There is so much reality in this book, but I never knew that reality was ever this awful. It brought me to a realization that I have never known before. It is extremely sad that something like this really did happen. The points that I will be evaluating are my least favorite character, how the author (Dave) described his mother, and how the author described the setting. My least favorite character would have to be the father. Yes, the mother was just as bad, but she would beat Dave right in front of her husband and he wouldn’t
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