Outside Reading Book Review

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. Health communications, Inc, 1995. Genre: Autobiography

A Child Called It, is about a young boy who struggles through child abuse from his mother. Dave goes to Thomas Eddison elementary school and kids make fun of him because he always has to wear the same clothes because his mom won’t buy him any. He lives with two older brothers who don’t get abused, just verbally yelled at. Dave’s brothers blame things that they might have done wrong on him because he is the youngest and the easiest target to go after. Dave’s mother never used to abuse him , but suddenly something in her just snapped. He knew certain things to remember washing the dishes; never get caught stealing food off of a plate, move fast and don’t take your eyes off of the dishes or you’ll get your front teeth smashed into a kitchen counter, stabbed or even worse.

“ A Child Called It” is a heart-stopping, compelling book. It is one of the most important books of our time and a must read for anyone who searches for the secret of internal motivation”

The books writing style is written in Dave’s point of view. He talks about the experiences that he went through and describes them vividly. Dave also splits the book into chapters that are fitting to his remarkable story. The chapters have appropriate tittles, like the second chapter is called “Bad Boy” because Dave thinks that he is a bad kid and what his mother is doing to him is his fault, when his mother says that Santa gave him a letter saying that he was a Bad Boy. Dave’s mother would severely hurt him. Dave never got a full meal that wasn’t almost eaten by somebody. When the social workers came into the elementary school one of the principles gave him a box of cookies and the principle told him not to eat to fast so he wouldn’t get sick. This shoes how Dave was very eager to get a meal.

“ The summer after the burn accident, school became my only hope of escape.”

I enjoyed reading this book because it was interesting and captivating. This author wrote a really good story and I’m glad that Dave ended up getting away from his life of child abuse. I would recommend this book to others, but it is sad most times in the beginning but is just a great book that teaches you about survival.