"A child called it" is a heart wrenching story about how a little boy fights to survive in his mothers abusive household. It takes place in Daly city California In the 1970s. The main character is Dave Pelzer, who is also the author of the book. It starts off with a happy household, until his mother and father start to fight. His mother starts to drink, and blame Dave for the fighting and all that has been going on. Dave has two other brothers, and one soon to come,She never hurt them. Dave's mother would play "games" with him, But they were not ordinary games, they were torturous games. She would make him eat ammonia or sit in very hot or extremely cold baths and much much more. He wasn't fed properly,or nearly at all. But whenever he was given the luxury of food, it would Be table scraps or spoiled food the dogs refused to eat. Although he was being abused, no one did anything about it. His father just looked away, so did his siblings. He felt alone, unloved unwanted. His mother referred to him as an "it" and that he wasn't part of her family, That he was a nothing that everybody hated. School was the only time he got a break, but not entirely, he was bullied a lot for his clothing and bruises. Dave Pelzer wrote three books regarding the abuse. The second book he wrote was "a lost boy" which tells about his life away from his mother, and His last book was "A man named dave" which tells about his life after the abuse, out and on his own, and how he grew up.
I would recommend this book to all middle schoolers and up. Even though it is a very sad story, I couldn't put it down. It is a very sad biography but its worth reading. This book is in first person, I would rate is 5/5 stars.