Book Bearings
A child called "It"
- 168 pages · about 3 hours
- First published 1987
- 48 editions
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1 About this book
A Child Called "It" is Dave Pelzer's memoir of his childhood in Daly City, California, published in 1995 and the first of three books about his life. He describes how his mother, who drank heavily, singled him out from his brothers and abused him from the age of four to twelve: beating and starving him, making him sleep in the basement and inventing cruel "games" he had to get through, while his father did little to stop it. The account ends in March 1973, when staff at his school stepped in and he was taken into foster care. Members of his family and some journalists have disputed parts of the story.
- Biography
- Family relationships
- Spirituality
- Self-help
- California, biography
- United states, biography
- Abused children
- Foster home care
2 What to expect
A short memoir of severe child abuse, told from the boy's point of view in plain, direct language. It describes beatings, starvation and humiliation by his mother in graphic detail, with little relief, and the focus is on how he got through each day. It reads quickly but is very hard going, and it stops at his rescue; two later books continue the story. Some of his relatives have disputed his account.
Good for readers who want: a survivor's memoir, a powerful true story, and a story of endurance.
3 About David J. Pelzer
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 More by David J. Pelzer
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