A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer

A Child Called It "A Child Called It" describes Dave Pelzer’s horrific early memories of abuse at the hands of his alcoholic mother. The book tells the story of how Dave was picked out among his siblings and endured terrible physical and psychological abuse, including being starved and made to eat feces. Dave develops inner strength and endurance in the face of the brutality he encounters, and he eventually survives his ordeal and is rescued by the police. The story opens with David, then 12 years old, being beaten by his mother, Catherine Pelzer, before going to school. David has been used to the nurse calling him in and documenting his injuries when he gets to school. He meets with a police officer in the principal's office shortly after

A few days later, after his brothers had left the house, Catherine put David's arm over the open flame of the gas stove and informed him that he was unable to go with his siblings to their Boy Scout meeting. Then she attempted to get him to lie down on the stove. It dawned on David that he would be safe if he could stay off the burner and wait for his brothers to come back if he could hold off on fighting Catherine long enough to get away from the pain. After the terrifying experience, David felt incredibly successful. In describing his victory, he said, "I knew that I had defeated her. I survived by using my head. I beat her for the first time." Dave Pelzer talks about his struggles with searching around his house for food. His mother would "forget" to give him dinner or breakfast. Young Dave starts having dreams about hamburgers that he can see and taste, but never completely. He turns to stealing meals from the school, but when his classmates get on, they start making fun of him and hate him. After informing his mother about these instances of food theft, which is going to result in, "more beatings and less food for at the house." for David. Dave is separated from the rest of the family at home by his mother. Dave is not allowed to see or communicate with his family. After school was let out for the summer, David had an increasingly difficult time finding food. Four or five-year-old brother Russell had turned into his mother's "little Nazi," watching out for him to make sure he didn't take food. Catherine threatened to kill David. She stumbled and fell one night while swinging the knife. A stab wound to David's stomach was caused by the flying knife. According to David, she was a very skilled nurse and was tending to his wounds when he woke up. At this point, he thought it was over. She did not even realize