A book that should have been called "WHY?" (A Child Called 'It' - Dave Pelzer)

Member Name: MandyMinx

Product:	A Child Called 'It' - Dave Pelzer
Date:	30/11/03 (4990 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Helps you realise how bad it is for some

Disadvantages: A very difficult read

At the age of five David Peltzer lived a happy, healthy life. He and his two brothers had a great house, great pets and caring, loving parents. Who would have thought that only two years later David would begin a journey that would end with him being categorised as the second worst victim of child abuse in the history of the United States.
What went wrong? I couldn't tell you and neither can David but somehow the gentle loving mother that had held him close as an infant now took sadistic pleasure in subjecting him to some of the most heinous acts of cruelty I have ever had the misfortune to read about.
What started as a simple act of discipline became cruelty in the first degree. Starvation, torture, slavery, attempted murder. Just a few of the terrible things this child was subjected to as his father watched and said nothing. Clever and manipulating, Davids mother was able to discredit any attempt he might make to alert the outside world to his plight. No longer a son, no longer a family member, David is forced to sleep in the basement, steal from the bins and endure the daily onslaught of calculated abuse from the woman who now knows him by only one name......IT!

A child called 'It' is David Peltzer's story. This is his personal testimony. This is the voice of a little boy.




I have to say first and foremost that this has to be the most moving story I have ever read. I was in tears for most of the book. No one could fail to be moved by the horror that this little boy had to endure but I think what comes across even clearer is the courage and determination this child has to live. I carry whatever book I am reading around with me for most of the day until I have finished reading it. I was reading an extract from the book when I sat down to eat my lunch. I found the food difficult to swallow and felt an enormous sense of guilt about eating such a hearty meal while reading about David's desperate search for f
ood and the punishments he endured when he was found to have eaten, such is the power of this very simply written book.


Would a child be able to analyse the thoughts and feelings of the people around them? No, that is something that comes with maturity. A child would only be able to say what they see and that is what you get to see in this story.
Because this is written by David as he saw it at the time, you don't get the excuses, the explanations, the reasons. You get the facts as only a child can give them. Simple, honest.

For me that made it so much more difficult to read. Seeing this boy suffer and as an adult, recognising the clear indicators of abuse that were there from very early on I found myself getting angry and frustrated at the people around him that didn't see the signs and his cry for help. The people that he was grateful to, I blamed. The teachers, the neighbours, his class mates.

As I said previously, this book is simply written but I think that is where the power of the book rests in the fact that this was a child and these are his words, his thoughts, his feelings.
This book really made me think.

This is not a long book. I wish it had been shorter. Shorter because things were spotted earlier and David was helped earlier.

At the end of the book there are extracts from the next two books in the series. The lost boy and A man named David.
Each small extract gives you an insight into the journey he had to take to come to terms with all that had happened to him and ultimately move on with his life.

I personally needed these extracts after reading this book. I needed the assurance that life did go on for David Peltzer and that he had his life, his freedom and a future. I think these extracts were extremely important for anyone reading the book because underneath the abuse and the torture is a story of great strength, of triumph and courage. I have heard that there have been
rumours that David Made this up. Personally I think not. There are always those that doubt.


I paid just over five pounds for my book from Amazon. Money well spent. It was emotionally hard to read this book, however I am glad I read it. I learned a lot from the experience.

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