A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive By David J. Pelzer

I do recommend those who like non-fiction and those who like fiction to read this book...

It is not for the faint hearted...

A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive By David J. Pelzer

I do recommend those who like non-fiction and those who like fiction to read this book...

It is not for the faint hearted...
Sounds like great book!

sounds like great book!

Yes it is because the author himself is the child in the book!

Yeah I have those books, never read them though.
I just don't feel like crying right now. lol:p
Saw the author telling his story on Oprah show
And you know how her show can make you cry sometimes.


I'll get to them later...

I read it twice, He is also on MontelWilliams quite a bit. He proves that crummy childhoods do not determine the rest of our lives.

I read it twice, He is also on MontelWilliams quite a bit. He proves that crummy childhoods do not determine the rest of our lives.

Amen to that!

Crummy is not even the word to describe his childhood, he didn't have
A childhood really. But he seemed like a very sweet man who did not
Pass on his mothers disruptive behavior on to his children. Thank God.

I read that book (twice) and the two sequels, saw David on Oprah, and feel just a teensy bit like this reviewer on epinions.com --

For one, David tells how his father tries to sneak food to him and whispers once in a while that he's trying to plan an escape for the two of them. Finally David's father decides he can't handle David's mother or the situation with David and he moves out on his own. What? What father in the world, even the biggest scumbag father, would knowingly abandon a child to this treatment? Better yet, what kind of father would allow it in the first place? The first time I came home to find my son was sleeping in the garage on a cot would be the biggest fight my wife and I ever had. But it would quickly be topped when my son came to me to whisper that his mother had stabbed him. All David's father says, however, is, "does Mother know you're in here talking to me? You better go back in there and do the dishes. Damn it boy, we don't need to do anything that might make her more upset! I don't need to go through that tonight..."

Do what?

I also find it hard to believe his mother shoved his face into a soiled baby diaper and told him to eat the contents. Or that she forced him to throw up the food he'd stolen at school that afternoon, then forced him to eat it again when his father came home that night.

We don't call that abuse in my house, we call it divorce and grounds for custody.

David's story is a tragic one and I certainly hope to God it's not true, but, like I said earlier, I wasn't there. I have to take his word for it that what he wrote is what happened, although, seriously, it WAS 30 years ago. Events could have been blown out of proportion in that time. For all I know, A Child Called "It" is another in a line of spectacular "true account" stories like Communion or Lorenzo Carcaterra's Sleepers that is so incredible in its accounts that we don't know whether to believe it or blow it off as an attempt to make more out of something than it deserves.

I've no doubt David Pelzer was abused as a child. Court records alone should be able to prove that. Surely witnesses could be found to attest to his bruises and behavior, enough to correlate with the events in the book. And maybe the next 2 books in the trilogy provide the answers I'm looking for, but on it's own A Child Called "It" is nothing more than the hook for the rest of the series. It's a terrible story, but on its own, the facts aren't there to back it up. We don't know, from the first book alone, what happened to his mother--I would hope a very LONG prison term--or his four brothers. We don't know if he ever reconnected with his father. And probably most important, we don't know WHY his mother did this, and why her torments were saved for David alone, leaving the other four children alone. We don't know anything other than the extent of his abuse. I'm sure that was the intent with the first book, but for me, I need a little more.

Also, David was forced to wear the same clothes to school every day for years. And marks from all the abuses were on his body. And he couldn't have been the sharpest, most awake student in the class. I find it hard to believe no teacher noticed any of that. Thirty+ years ago, teachers got involved with their students' lives, much more so than today.

Can you immagine the torment he suffered. He was chosen over the rest of the children to receive most of the punishments. The dad he was just as bad as she was. Yoour right crummy was not even a suitable adjective. It has been so many years since I read the book, and it still makes me cringe.

Can you immagine thge torment he suffered. He was chosen over the rest of the children to recieve most of the punishments. The dad he was jsut as bad as she was. Yoour right crummy was not even a suitable adjective. It has been so many years since I read the book, and it still makes me cringe.

From what I remember from the Oprah show his mother was a heavy drinker
He did go back and asked her questions as to why, why him, why did she do
It? She told him "it had to be someone". That's it. That was her answer.

She didn't change a bit. When he went to visit her to ask those questions
She actually tried to hit him and he was a grown man! The women still had
It in for him.

Wow, I had no idea his father knew about and did nothing. I don't remember
Anything being said about his dad on the show. I wouldn't know what I would
Have done if I had to live though something like that.

I don't know much more than from the show but I'll read the books later.
I believe his story to be true.

About the eopinion. A lot of people and children suffer while the rest of the family allows them to be the scapegoat. OH I can see how it happened esp. 30 years ago and some spouses are so weak that it is sickening and they minimize the treatment to allow it to go on or look the other way. I can name a instance in my child's school when she was in k-garten a little girl was coming to school in the late/ fall earlywinter with no socks, plastic shoes and a sun dress and the wind whipping and blowing it up on the playground No panties on! This same little girl was always dirty amd starving for affection. She was always hungry. I volunteered in the lunch room and began watching what she was eating. Some days she just sat there, some days she had a bologna sandwich and a bottle of water or a pack of zeta crackers and water, and some days she had lunch money. 1.25 back then. My son also was in her brothers class and I talked to my son about it and asked him what her brother ate for lunch, he said mom we give him part of our lunch if he doesn't have lunch money. Long story short I went to school officials, and they were worried about peeing her mom off. I also called children's services and they said I did not have enough evidence that she was being abused, maybe she spent her lunch money before school and she was old enough to know how to dress properly. So in others words it was the 5 year old child's fault! I leaned on the school and they finally gave her & her brother reduced lunch. Mom would not come to school meetings nor sign up for free lunch. Myself and one of the aides also bought her clothes and they put them on her and took them off her before she went home for the day! The brother was about 9 or 10 and had been going through this for years, Thankfully she went into my daughters kindergarten class or it is untelling how long this would have went on. Btw the father finally go custody of them a few years later and it is sicknening but the mom was on our town council drove a BMW and wore diamonds! The neighbors where they lived considered them to be nasty little kids and did not want to bother with them. Sadly most of the teachers felt the same way and some of the teachgers dreaded hearing the mothers mouth if they questioned her treatment of the kids. Isn't that sad? But it is the truth.

There was a true story, Chicago newspaper expose, of a little girl who lived in a dog cage. All the other kids were treated well, but this one child was put through all sorts of physical and mental torture and humiliation. After the story broke, the police and investigators realized this one child had been picked out as the family scapegoat.

I don't trust Oprah's judgment any longer, not after the James Frey memoir incident, and more recently, her resounding praise of that idiotic book, The Secret.

There was a true story, Chicago newspaper expose, of a little girl who lived in a dog cage. All the other kids were treated well, but this one child was put through all sorts of physical and mental torture and humiliation. After the story broke, the police and investigators realized this one child had been picked out as the family scapegoat.

I don't trust Oprah's judgment any longer, not after the James Frey memoir incident, and more recently, her resounding praise of that idiotic book, The Secret.


Oprah has her own agendas for whatever she shows, but about whether the "IT" story is true or not, as you pointed out it is not the only one of its kind and it has happened in every society at one time or another... :mad:

Thank the lord for people like you bushg who did not turn
A blind eye and ignore the little girl and her brother.

I'm sure they will remember the volunteer lunch lady who
Helped them and your teaching your son to help people
When they are in need. You're a great mom! And your son
Will grow up a better person for it.

As far as Ms.BMW with the diamonds, she ought to be
Ashamed of herself! :mad:
Oh the kids will remember her too.

firmbeliever:Oprah has her own agendas
Yeah, to help and inform people.
Anything wrong with that?


Wondergirl: I don't trust Oprah's judgment any longer,
not after the James Frey memoir incident, and more recently,
her resounding praise of that idiotic book, The Secret.

Ms. Winfrey is not a lie detector. James Frey is a liar!
He lied to everyone who read his book.
What is Oprah to do? A background check on every author
That comes to her show? Why blame Oprah for what he did?

Her judgment is just that, her judgment, her opinion.
You don't have to agree with everything she says.

Your judgment of the book "The Secret" is that it is
Idiotic, but that is all that it is. Your opinion.
From here on out should others not trust your judgment based
On your opinion on this book? No.

Give Oprah a break? Ooooooooook?

firmbeliever:Oprah has her own agendas
Yeah, to help and inform people.
Anything wrong with that?


Wondergirl: I don't trust Oprah's judgment any longer,
not after the James Frey memoir incident, and more recently,
her resounding praise of that idiotic book, The Secret.

Ms. Winfrey is not a lie detector. James Frey is a liar!!
He lied to everyone who read his book.
What is Oprah to do? A background check on every author
that comes to her show? Why blame Oprah for what he did?

Her judgment is just that, her judgment, her opinion.
You don't have to agree with everything she says

Give Oprah a break? ooooooooook?

Oh Nikkicute, don't put up your defences just because of what I said of Oprah, I used to be an ardent fan too.(still am for the good things she does)
Now I just don't have the time to watch others perfect their lives, as I am too busy trying to keep my life in order!:) :)

What defense?
Does this look like the face of a defensive person?
:D<<<<<<<<<see.

I'm cool.
It's cool.
No problem.

Don't mess with Oprah!
Just kidding...
Just kidding...

This is the most heart breaking thing I have ever read.

Wondergirl agrees: Unfortunately, the library's shelves especially at 362.76 are filled with similar stories.

It's amazing the cruel and ugly things that people do to one another let alone what they can do to those that are harmless and helpless... ah geez now I'm tearing up...

And the harmless and helpless include animals... don't get me started!!

David Pelzer is a tremendous speaker and will go anywhere he feels he is needed. When my oldest son saw him, at a school assembly, he came home crying and asked forgiveness for saying (that morning) that he wanted new parents because his Dad and I said he had to earn a game boy if he wanted one - that we would not just buy one.

Have heard him speak at a children's conference on identifying abuse patterns in families. I don't know how anyone could not be affected by his testimony. May the Lord bless him and his family.

I was at Children's Hosptial blood center with my son one day . He was 5 years old, there was another little girl and her mom along with several other people and their kids. This little girl had long blond hair in a pony tail on top of her head, she was around 3-4 kind of chubby and she was quite rowdy. Her mother told her to come to her and stop being mean. The little girl did not listen. So the mom gets up goes over to the girl picks her up by her pony tail and carrys her over to her chair a couple of feet away. Also there was a window where you register , the people in there were talking but I didn't think they saw it. I am sitting there amazed and no one says a word! Here I sit with my son who is a weekly/daily patient of this place. So I think I have to speak up, no one else is. I say what is wrong with your child, she said she has a heart defect! My mouth drops and I say "You just lifted her off her feet by the hair of her head." Her reply was and I'll do it again, she knows to listen. I said if you treat her this way in public how do you treat her in private. I said don't dare touch her again. I started talking to her and asking her questions to try and keep her mind off the little girl. To my surprise she actually answered my questions, she truly did not feel she was wrong in treating her that way! Btw she was pregnant as well. The child's heart disease was herditary and the child she was pregnant could have been born the same way! She said she was willing to take that chance. When we were called back to the room, and I told a nurse what happened, she went and watched her, lo and behold this woman did it again and they called security and a social worker. My point is to always keep your eyes open. One night we were in Children's Hospital ER and there was a man with a little boy it was crowded and they had people sitting in the hall, this man kept grabbing this little boy looked like he was around 2 and twisting his good arm behind his back,( the other 1 was in a sling) kicking his legs and feet and hitting him in the back with his fist. That night I was happy to say that the nurses had already noticed it and had the police on their way! I learned from those 2 instances there are abusers everywhere and they have very little control if provoked. I watch people esp. with kids and animals because who protects them if not us. My daughter always ask me how I see things, I tell her that I am always aware of what is going on in my surrondings. I am trying teach them to be as well and to be proactive by making calls and informing officials if need be. Then we would not have so many library spaces filled up with these types of abuse stories. When I was small my sisters and I suffered abuse in many forms, as people turned the other way. So I speak out cause I know how it feels to have a weak mom,absent father and ignornant people waiting to take advantage of me. Hell, I spoke out when I was little that is probably the only thing that saved me!

Has anyone seen the movie "Mockingbird dont sing" (I think that's the name of the movie),
It is also based on a true story of child abuse!

Its worth watching...

bushg,
I totally know what you mean by" always keep your eyes open."

At the apartment where I used to live there is
Another apartment building just a few feet away.

One night I heard this women hitting her child, he
Must have been only 1 or 2 but you shouldn't be
Able to hear someone hitting a child from across
The building. He's only a little boy, just lay him
Down if you want him to go to sleep.

I got mad. Turned off my computer sceen, turned
Off all the lights in my room and let the shades
Down, I wanted to make sure no one saw me.

I yelled out the window at the top of my lungs.
"Child Abuser!!! Hey, Child Abuser!!!"
My heart of beating so fast!

Next thing you know an older women who was
Probably her mother comes to the window to see
Who was yelling and says "Who do they think they
Are? Don't they know 5-0 (code word for police I
Think) lives here? I don't think any cops lived
There.

A day or two later the mom and the son are playing outside.
Instead of playing in the front or
The back of the building she chose to play at the
Side part by the windows. There she was being all
Super nice to him. I think she was hoping that the
Person who yelled child abuser would see her
Being nice to her son and not think she was such
A bad mom.

I felt a little silly but I had to do it anyway.
Sometimes I feel like I'm being weird, I hear a
Kid crying and I go running toward the window
To see who might be messing with him.
Usually it's nothing, but I'm always going to
Be on the look out.

Now lately you hear news reports of attacks on the
Elderly. It's just terrible sometimes.

In two weeks I have read "A child called "it", "The lost boy", and just finished "A man named David" all by David Pelzer. I plan on reading at least two other books he has out and his brothers book as well. I was abused by my mother (nothing at all like David was!). He is a great inspiration and a wonderful and brave person to let “the secret“ out to help others! I would so love the chance to meet him!

I am sorry to hear about your past stonewilder...

May you find peace.

Loved the books! We were required to read them while I was in high school... child development class! I was also required to read it again in a college class; it was a class for future teachers.

Love the book its a really good book WORTH reading
Its sad... I hate what the mother did to him

I am sorry to hear about your past stonewilder...

May you find peace.


Thank you FB. I dealt with it through counseling years ago. I would be lying if I said there wasn't issues that arises in my personal life because of it but over all, I think I've learned to over come it. It's not something I tell to too many people because on one hand you don't want to hear," Well that was in your past so get over it". On the other hand you don't want their pity either because you think "It's in my past so I should just get over it! (If only it were that easy!) I’m sure as normal and put together David and his brother might seem to be today that they still have issues with the past that they will have to fight for the rest of their lives. It’s great though that they use it to help others.

Wondergirl this is in response to who ever the reviewer was on epinions.com --


My mother physically abused my brother where as she mainly only mentally abused my sister and I. I was the youngest so after my brother and sister were no longer under her roof both the mental and physical abuse was pasted to me. I don't know much about my mothers childhood because she left home at 13 and never seen her family again. According to her she was very sick when she was young and spent most of her time in a wheel chair in the fields with her dad. Supposedly her mother and her did not get alone and her other 8 (I think it was)siblings picked on her when her dad was not around. I don't understand any more than anyone else why, but it seems that for some reason it is normal that one kid in the family is marked for the abuse more than the others. Maybe it's because that child reminds them of them of the one they were abused by. I just pulled that out of my a**. I don't know why it happens but it dose.

As with teachers stepping in and helping I can assure you that didn’t happen much in those days. My sister graduated in“78”, my brother in “79”, both of them went to a school counselor about some things my mother had done. The counselor did nothing at all! In 83 or 84 I unknowingly went to this same counselor, this time she did do something….. she got my a** in hot water with my mother and betrayed not only my trust but my brothers as well by repeating something he said a few years before. I never went back to that bi*ch again and you wouldn’t believe how that one incident affected my life! So yes I do believe it is possible that teachers could have seen things, maybe even heard things but looked the other way for what ever reason.

I can relate to David’s family and how his dad felt he couldn’t do anything. I’m by no means saying his dad was right in what he did, or I should say didn’t do. My Dad was a good loving father but he too ignored the abuse to keep the peace. As stupid as it may sound by him keeping the peace with my mother he saved us from my mothers wrath. It’s easy to say he should have took us kids away but in those days men normally didn’t get the kids even if the mother sucked as a parent. My Dad worked 70+ hours just to feed us ….how was he going to pay someone to watch us too? Again I’m not saying he handled it right but it was a different day and time. You made the best with what you had and he did.

Lastly I do agree that things may have been exaggerated to sell the book and that it is possible that as most young children they can be a little confused with details. I also think that in those days if you stuck your nose in somebody’s business you better be able to prove it to be true. David probably was couched by social workers to prove the case and get him out of the home. Never the less I do believe he and his brother were abused. For them to talk about the “secret” is amazing! Only those who have lived with the secret can understand the courage it takes to talk about it as they have done.

The thing you have to remember is it was a different day and time. Things were nothing like they are today. People tried to “mind their own business“. Woman almost always got the kids and if a man worked long hours no way was a judge going to give him the kids. Our parents were raised by stricter parents. Today if you see someone take a belt to a young kid you scream abuse but in those days you might get something much worse than a belt and people just seen it as discipline.

Thank you stoneW,
For sharing your experience with us, I am sure it isn't easy.

May you find peace...