"A Child Called It" by David Pelzer

4 of 5 stars.

The Basics: This is a first-person narration of an extreme case of child abuse. David's mother starts off as a loving, caring parent but as David gets older, he becomes the focus of her brutality. She takes out her anger on him solely, though he has four other brothers. David's retelling of the hell he endured throughout his young life is chronicled in the book. Luckily, he is taken from his home after the nurse at his school notices continued bruises and his teacher notices that he is obviously going through something beyond what they could even imagine when he goes home from school each day.

My Thoughts: I have read some reviews that question David's reliability as he reflects back on his abusive childhood, and I could see why those questions would arise. It is so hard to imagine what he went through, but this type of brutality does happen in our world. I just questioned why his mother chose to make him the focus of her anger? It did not make sense to me because he really didn't explain it. Also, he did not explain why the shift happened with his mother. As the reader, we knew that both his mother and father were drinkers but why did his mom turn from a loving, doting parent to a brute?
Also, it seemed very odd that his father would do nothing to help him. I do find it hard to believe that David endured all of this and his father just stood by because he did not want to upset his mother. The "gas chamber", the deprivation of food, and by far the worst part of the brutality was when his mother stabbed him. That was horrible! How could his father do nothing as he saw that his son was having the life drained from him. I feel as though his father was just as culpable as his mother because he stood by and did nothing though he knew what was going on.
This book is hard to read because of the brutality, but it was insightful and makes the reader happy that David survived through this abuse.


~Remember, teachers read fun stuff too!