A Child Called "It"
Written by Dave Pelzer
Illustrated by ABC Motion Pictures
Reviewed by Kayla B. (age 14)
The true story about Dave Pelzer is called A Child called ?IT?. It is a very sad but true story. To read this book you need to be mentally and emotionally strong. In this book it tells about how this little boy is trying to survive. His mother is usually drunk and his father is always at work. When his mother gets this way she usually abuses him BADLY! Dave, the little boy, has two other brothers, with his mom pregnant with his third brother. None of the other children were abused like Dave. Sometimes his mother will lock him in the bathroom with ammonia in buckets. She would have him stay in there until he could hardly breathe. One time she actually stabbed him. She stabbed her own son with a knife! There are many other ?treatments? that Dave?s mom has for him. These were just a couple examples of his rough times.
I think that no child could be bad enough to deserve to be treated like Dave was. I think also that his mother should be severely punished. No child should be abused, especially a little boy! This is the kind of book that?s right in your face. It just shows you how horrible people can be. One part in the book that I did like was after the mother stabbed Dave she knew what she had done and she knew she really pushed herself over the edge. So when she did realize this she took extra good care of Dave. He was able to eat with the family, and once again his mother held him in her arms. Dave had felt loved all over again but it didn?t last for long. As soon as he healed his mother treated him like as if he was nothing all over again. One thing that I thought was horrid in this book is when the mother would lock Dave into the bathroom. She would leave him in there until he could hardly breathe and there was no way for him to escape. Sometimes he would breathe into a cloth that was dry. Soon after that mother realized he was breathing into a cloth so before she put him in there she would make sure the cloth had already been soaked into the ammonia so it could not help him. So basically my opinion is that a child should never be treated the way Dave Pelzer was treated.
I would recommend this book to just about anyone 12 years of age and up. I think it teaches people how cruel someone could be. I would not recommend this book to be read to little children because the details are horrifying. I also recommend it to someone who is emotionally strong or else you may cry very often throughout this story. If a child is to read this and they don?t understand why Dave?s behaving this way, they should sit down and talk to their parents about it.