A Chid Called It

A Child Called It was the book I chose for my summer reading book this year. The main character, Dave Pelzer, wrote the book. It took place in San Francisco, California from 1960 to about 1972. This book is a series of 4 (A Child Called It being the first of the series). It is a True story of one of the worst abusive cases recorded in California history.

It all started out when Dave Pelzer was born in 1960 in San Francisco. His mother was a homemaker and an alcoholic, his dad was a fireman so he wasn't home a lot. Dave also had two brothers who were told to never acknowledge the fact that Dave was there. His mother never showed him any love or never cared for him as her son, she didn't even refer to him as her son. She would refer to him as "that child" or "it". She put him through unbelievable things, things you couldn't even imagine surviving through. Dave had no friends and no one to go to about his abuse. Dave thought that every family had a child that they didn't care for, so he didn't think any one would care. He would go days, even weeks without eating, and when he did get some food it was stale leftovers. His mom not only mentally abused him but was also very physical with him. One instance was that she was so mad at him she pulled his arm right out of the socket but didn't take him to the hospital until 18 hours after. On an even more ridiculous note Dave's mother was so drunk one night she pulled him arm up and put it on a gas stove but failed to take him to the hospital because she didn't want to have a chance of her getting caught. She thought if she took him to the hospital they would suspect something of her.