Book Review: A Child Called It

Book Review:

Title: “A Child Called It”

Author: Dave Pelzner 

Recommended by Ana Westerman

“A Child Called It” is one of the saddest books I have ever read. Every page I turned, I nearly bawled my eyes out. I never know something so sad could happen to a poor, innocent little boy who has no control over it. In this book, Dave Pelzner tells the story of his life. In his life, his mother severely abused him. This is one of the worst child abuse cases in history. This book is the first, out of three books, that Dave tells about his life. The other books are: “The Lost Boy” and “A Man Called Dave.” In “A Child Called It”, his mother abuses him, with words, violence, and locking him in a bathroom full of chemicals, but thats not even the worst part.  She starves him, makes him sleep in the basement, holding a position by standing up for hours. She makes him lie on the gas stove, with it on. His mom disowns him, calling him “It” or “That boy” because she thinks he doesn’t deserve to have a name. She treats the dog a thousand times better than she treats Dave. She starves him, makes him sleep in the basement, holding a position by standing up for hours. It gets worse and worse. I never know a mother could treat her child so badly.

Passages:

This passage is when his mother says to him, “If you don’t finish on time, I am going to kill you”. Of course, she was drunk, like she always is. While she was saying this, she was waving the knife around.  She trips, and stabs Dave in the chest.

“I snatched another rag, rolled it up and stuffed it in my mouth. I focused all my         attention on the thumb and first finger of my left hand, as I pinched the skin around         my slit. With my other hand, I wiped away the pus: The pain from the pinching was         more than I could stand. With my teeth clamped tightly on the rag, my screaming         was muffled. I felt as though I was hanging from a cliff. By the time I finished, a river     of tears soaked my shirt. Fearing that mother would catch me not sitting at the bottom     of the stairs, I cleaned up my mess, then half-walked, half-crawled to my assigned         place at the foot of the staircase. Before I sat on my hands, I checked my shirt; only         small drops of blood escaped from the wound to the rag bandage.”

I loved this book. It is one of my favorite books. I asked myself when I got this book,

“ I don’t want to read this today, because I knew I will end up crying.” It was one of         the most terrofying books I have ever read, and I ended up with more questions than         answers. This book made me want to donate all my money to child abuse orphanges         all over the world.