A Child Called It: the Book
Candace Garrett
Miss Kesler
A Child Called “It”
10 September 2010 3,627,803 children are reported to Child Protective Services yearly in the United States. One of the worst child abuse cases in California's history came to an end on March 5, 1973, when Dave Pelzer entered foster care. Dave begins his incredible story as an abused child in just one of his book series called A Child Called "It." This heartrending story tells of one boy’s courage to survive, as it is easy to read but not so easy to comprehend, as no one can grasp how one mother can treat her child in such a horrific way. Dave's childhood wasn't always a nightmare. There were the "Good Times" in the beginning and Dave devotes a chapter describing the feelings of warmth and safety provided by his mother. That is just one of Dave’s turning points in the book. By the age of four these feelings were replaced with fear, starvation and loneliness, as his whole outlook on life changes when his mother’s feelings toward him changed also, as if his mother woke up one morning and just hated his existence and planned to make it well known to him through a variety of verbal and physical abuse. Through out the book Dave exposes the gruesome “games” his mother played on him, involving being beaten, forced to eat his own vomit, swallow soap, ammonia, and Clorox, along with other jaw-dropping experiences of being stabbed and placed on a gas stove. The other turning point observed in the book was once Dave turned twelve. It was that following year that his school nurse observed his cuts and bruises covering David’s body. Although he had been brain washed to lie to cover up for his mother’s abuse, his school nurse had a great deal of evidence to prove that this was no “accident,” so she reported it to the local police. After that we observe Dave’s journey of his start to freedom as he sheds light on the emotions he had toward his abusive alcoholic mother, spineless father and sneering brothers. The readers see it
Miss Kesler
A Child Called “It”
10 September 2010 3,627,803 children are reported to Child Protective Services yearly in the United States. One of the worst child abuse cases in California's history came to an end on March 5, 1973, when Dave Pelzer entered foster care. Dave begins his incredible story as an abused child in just one of his book series called A Child Called "It." This heartrending story tells of one boy’s courage to survive, as it is easy to read but not so easy to comprehend, as no one can grasp how one mother can treat her child in such a horrific way. Dave's childhood wasn't always a nightmare. There were the "Good Times" in the beginning and Dave devotes a chapter describing the feelings of warmth and safety provided by his mother. That is just one of Dave’s turning points in the book. By the age of four these feelings were replaced with fear, starvation and loneliness, as his whole outlook on life changes when his mother’s feelings toward him changed also, as if his mother woke up one morning and just hated his existence and planned to make it well known to him through a variety of verbal and physical abuse. Through out the book Dave exposes the gruesome “games” his mother played on him, involving being beaten, forced to eat his own vomit, swallow soap, ammonia, and Clorox, along with other jaw-dropping experiences of being stabbed and placed on a gas stove. The other turning point observed in the book was once Dave turned twelve. It was that following year that his school nurse observed his cuts and bruises covering David’s body. Although he had been brain washed to lie to cover up for his mother’s abuse, his school nurse had a great deal of evidence to prove that this was no “accident,” so she reported it to the local police. After that we observe Dave’s journey of his start to freedom as he sheds light on the emotions he had toward his abusive alcoholic mother, spineless father and sneering brothers. The readers see it