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    A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive
    A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive
    A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive
    Audiobook3 hours

    A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive

    Written by Dave Pelzer

    Narrated by Brian Keeler

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Dave Pelzer's astonishing, disturbing account of his early years describes one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. This book has spent over 175 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Dave was in first grade when his unstable alcoholic mother began attacking him. Until he was in fifth grade, she starved, beat and psychologically ravaged her son. Eventually denying even his identity, Dave's mother called him an "it" instead of using his name. Relentlessly, she drove him to the brink of death before authorities finally stepped in. With faith and hope, Dave grew determined to survive. He also knew that he needed to share his story. A Child Called "It" is the first of three books that chronicle his life. Through publications and public appearances, Dave is now recognized as one of the nation's most effective and respected speakers about child abuse.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJul 18, 2007
    ISBN9781440780806
    Author

    Dave Pelzer

    Dave Pelzer has experienced a truly adventurous extraordinary life. At age 12, Dave was rescued and placed in a series of foster homes until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18. As a member of the armed forces, Dave was hand-picked to midair refuel the then highly secretive SR-71 Blackbird and the F-117 Stealth Fighter. Some of Dave’s distinctive accomplishments have been recognized through several prestigious awards, as well as personal commendations from four U.S. Presidents. In 1993, Dave was honored as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans, joining a distinguished group including John F. Kennedy and Walt Disney. In 1994, Dave was the only American to be honored as The Outstanding Young Persons of the World! In 2005, Dave was the recipient of the National Jefferson Award, which is considered the Pulitzer Prize of public service.   Unbeknownst to the general public, from 2006 to 2010, while at extreme risk plus using his own time and expense, Dave spent weeks at a time visiting the troops in the Middle East and South West Asia, providing counseling and comedic presentations to embedded troops. For nearly a decade, when not on the road speaking, performing radio presentations, or offering counseling services, Dave serves his community as a volunteer Fire Captain for two separate districts. He has served in many explosive fires, floods, and other natural disasters. For his efforts, Dave was twice selected as Volunteer Firefighter of the Year. Dave is the author of nine inspirational books. Dave’s first book, A Child Called “It” was on the New York Times Best Sellers List for a record setting six years. His books were on the same Best Sellers List well over twelve years. Dave was the first author to have four # 1 International Best Sellers and to have four books simultaneously on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Dave is a living testament of a self-made man who has dedicated his life to helping others . . . to help themselves. He is the host of the podcast, The Dave Pelzer Show, providing humor, advice, and tools to help listeners make positive, productive changes. Visit: www.davepelzer.com.

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    Reviews for A Child Called It

    4/5

    2,704 ratings161 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was a difficult book to listen to. It's so raw and cringe-worthy. How could a mother do this? So sad for David the little boy, but very happy about David the man.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      His story brought me to tears, especially when reading his last chapter. As he shares his joy with his son Stephen, it gives you hope as the reader, in knowing that everything no matter how terrible it has been, ultimately has an end. Beautiful and resoundingly powerful!

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I first read this book at 14 and decided to revisit it now at 30. To say it affected me any differently would be an understatement considering it is so much worse now as an adult and as a parent of a son myself. I could never begin to understand the horrors Mr. Pelzer faced and I could never begin to understand what drives anyone to do the atrocities his mother did, but this book is important and will forever be important to the world.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book is sooo sad. I still don’t understand why his mom is like that. What did David do.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Great read, but very disturbing. I don't know how some parents can abuse their children.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This was a very hard book for me to read. I heard about this book a long time ago but never could bring myself to read it. I finally decided to. It took me several days to read this book because it was so raw and real. I am a mother of 2, and could not imagine doing anything to hurt my children in any way. I cannot even fathom the experience he went through, and what children still go threw to this day. What people are capable of doing is astonishing. I am so grateful he found a way out. Such a hard read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      heartbreaking, be preaped with tissues. Evil mother, but Dave triumphed

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Wow this book made me sad and angry. I hated the mom in the story. I couldn't believe someone could be so evil and to their own son! I hate child abuse.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book made me so sick, yet it’s true!! So many people (adults & kids) all over deal with abuse. It’s heart wrenching.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      As a 14 year old this book really opened my eyes to what happens behind closed doors to people my age. It took me like 2 weeks to finish because of the heavy topic but it is a really great book I think others should read
    • 5/5
      I first read this book as a child, and forgot just how amazing this book is. Inspirational man
    • 5/5
      Amazing first audio book i have listened to. It kept my attention and i closed my eyes and it was like i was there onto my second audiobook now.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book when I was in middle school and I still love it today. It's a terribly sad story but it's something that people need to realize is a problem here in America.
    • 5/5
      I was teary severally while listening, and still can comprehend why, how a "mother" could do this to her son. Huh! Enjoyed some of the humor in it too. Nicely written ? literature
    • 4/5
      Harrowing account of surviving child abuse. He later learned to live a full good life you'll see in his later books.
    • 5/5
      Wow, Just Wow...... I had to stop listening because it became hurtful. But the way this book spoke to me I am going to read the rest of his writing.
    • 5/5
      I’ve read this book I can’t even tell you how many times. It’s so heart wrenching and keeps me as a mother on my toes not to ever cross that boundary with my own children. It’s a reminder of all the horrible things this life can bring especially for a child. It’s a parents job to protect and love there children and Dave’s parents both failed him on such a huge level! It’s so easy too look up to this man, all the hard things he went through as a child and turned out to be this amazing man! Many children aren’t so lucky. Many don’t grow to be amazing as he did and I hope this book inspires those that must go through this type of horror can come out on top like Dave!
    • 4/5
      The book was good-unimaginable what that little boy overcame. Some parts hard to read-such cruelty!
    • 4/5
      In 1994, I started a new relationship, in every way my intentions were to start a "new" relationship. I was 33, she was 21 and we were very much on the same level. I begin with this caveat because it is through that lens that the story, I associate with this review makes sense to me. Flash forward to 2000, I am 40 and once again on my way to see a counselor, it has become a real pain in my ass because it seems each time there is a crisis, I am the one seeing a counselor - again. "Have you read a book titled, A Child Called It?" Indeed, I have I thought, but held out to see how it would be presented this time - to me. I read the book - I could have written the damned thing! I shall hold out on this part too - so we can get the fun stuff rolling.
      As I have stated it is 2000 and my mother and I are at "it" again... "so, Jim - we are going to do some one-word response patterns to help you communicate that which seems to be locked up inside of you. Are you ready? Great. I will read a sentence and you complete it by stating the first word that comes to you..." So, there I sat - answering the shrinks calling into the deep recesses of my mind. Tic-Toc... "Jim, when my mother dies, I shall feel ____?" Immediately the word "safe" slipped out from my lips. "Safe" - I felt ashamed for uttering such a thing, but I knew it was true... I would feel "safe."
      In 1994, I had amassed nearly 1600 handwritten pages, I had come out to my future wife who encouraged me to work hard on those issues that plagued my heart and mind. Oh, I almost forgot - you still are not familiar with the hell I am penning to you, I will get there, trust me. I also told my future mother-in-law what I had shared with my fiancé. Why in the bloody hell would you do that? She does not need to know! Oh, yes. It was a counselor in 1989 who made it clear to me that I needed transparency and disclosure if I hoped for any form of normalcy. So, I shared my past with her and she thought it out and then matter-of-factly called me a liar - "no mother would treat her child that way," and with that blunt retort our conversation was over.
      A short time later, a counselor who had been in my life for almost 20 years, rang me up and suggested I read a book he found remarkably familiar to the work he and I had done together. It would be almost 6 months before I would read it, because some other person offered it to me after having read it. It was and remains one of the most painful books I have ever read. It detailed the horrors of a child and there I was - in the fetal position - sick to my stomach and scared shitless - someone had stolen my journal. I read the book and then my fiancé read the book - her shock was in chorus with my own. Then we realized that there was someone else with a story much like my own.
      In 2005, it was Christmas Eve, my mother was in the hospital – one she has worked in over her 40 years of nursing on a regular basis. We were told we should wear masks, and for some reason that was not something I was going to do. We visited and were the last to leave. Before we departed, my wife kissed my mother and told he that she “loved her,” to which there was no reply until it was stated again that she was loved in a stricter voice. My mother turned to my wife and told her that she loved her as well – then: “You two go and build good memories and forget about the harsh and painful past – build better memories,” my mother spoke out almost as if she were speaking to a crowd rather than the 2 of us. I said to my mom, “I love you too, momma.” There was no audible reply, but being Christmas Eve, I figured I was loved – everyone is loved on Christmas Eve!
      1973 Lafayette, Indiana – I am home from the Boy’s Ranch for Christmas vacation. It made me happy that I got to come home like the other boys did. I was looking forward to the happiness that Christmas Eve was supposed to be and waited to be called down for dinner. Finally – “Jimmy, get down here it is dinner time. Hurry,” mom called out to me. Down the stairs I came and there before me was the prettiest table I think I had ever seen. All were at their respective places and there was my place – except there was no chair for me to sit upon. I was told I would be standing for dinner and there was a bowl over my plate. Grace was uttered by me, because my mom said I would make the grace prayer, and I did. “Amen,” I said and eagerly removed the bowl covering my plate. I was sure it would be grand, especially because I had been away and was kind of like a guest at the table. That is what I thought and it only took a few seconds to erase that thought completely. “Jimmy, tonight you will dine on those soiled underwear I found in the laundry today. It is disgusting that I should have to clean your soiled underwear for you. Learn to wipe your ass!” She then told me to chew on my underwear. After being beaten with her belt several times, I did as she told me to do. Christmas has never meant much to me since then.
      Christmas morning 2005, it is 5:30 am and it has been a long night. We were caring for a person who was my friend for almost 35 years. He had been raised in a family that did not celebrate these holidays. So, this was going to be my friend, Dennis, first and last Christmas. He was with us because he had asked me if he could come to our home to die. Dennis has terminal cancer, and is within the last 30 days of his life. All night I had heard him up and restless, this although he was on enough narcotics to kill a herd of horses. I had to rise once to put him back to bed, but the wife and I had a chuckle because we knew he was peeking in on the gifts under the tree. At the 5:30 am mark of the clock our phone, it was my mother – they told me she had just passed away. My wife and I went to the hospital, mom was dead and someone had asked me how I was doing, to which I replied – “I am safe.”
      We cane home at around 9 am and celebrated as best we could. I remember looking at Dennis and the sadness was there in his eyes. He later told me felt sadness for each on this festive day. What I did not share with him was the fact that I had difficulty seeing past the sadness inside of me on this Christmas Day. It was not because of the death of my mother that I felt such sadness, rather it was the memories she had filled me with around these days of celebration – I hate Christmas, Easter too… we can skip that story as it is very disgusting.
      I think, I have written enough about the history I share with Dave – a club I certainly did not ask to be part of. I am thankful that he shared our story, so that maybe it need not be shared by anyone else. The book he wrote with the conviction and courage he demonstrated is meaningful and in some strange ways encouraging to me today. It may be that in sharing parts of my story in a review of Dave’s courageous effort to tell others how they affected us, that I am placing my pain above his. Of course, I do, that is what we do because that is what we have as a story, even as we struggle with new family who love and cherish us for all that we are. We know they love us because they chose us, we are “it.”
    • 4/5
      This book was completely eye opening and I have thought about that child ever since I read the book... years ago...
    • 3/5
      Dave Pelzer grew up in California, the second of five sons. He has fond memories of his younger childhood, but as his mother became more of an alcoholic and emotionally unstable, Dave became the victim of child abuse and starvation. In this, his memoir, he tells the horrible tale of how his mother became increasingly cruel and torturous, while his brothers remained relatively safe and unharmed.This book received a fair amount of attention back when it was released in the mid-90's. I would imagine that was due to the unspeakable horrors told in this story, which, despite all of its awfulness, was sure to catch the media's attention. And like a train wreck, you can't help but want to read about it. I really disliked this book for lots of reasons. Anyone reading it can't help but become angry and wonder how a mother could treat a child in such a way. But I also had so many questions that were really never answered, which also made me angry. Why did David's mother treat him this way in the first place? Why did she single him out and not treat any of his brothers similarly? Why didn't David just run away or seek help from another adult? And more than anything, why in the world did his father continue to allow these awful things to happen? I don't get a lot of it. I don't necessarily doubt the truth of anything revealed in this memoir. However, it really was not very well written, and I had a lot of trouble getting through it, more because of that than because of the disturbing subject matter. It really needed a good edit job. I don't want to downplay the meat of this story, because I do think it needed to be told, but it could've been told much better than it was.
    • 3/5
      Heartbreaking, if you think your life is hard, NOPE! Literally the most frequently stolen book from my library.
    • 4/5
      Young David Pelzer is growing up in a horribly abusive situation. His mother visits many physical, mental and emotional harms upon him and his father seems helpless to intervene. This memoir is raw, emotional and nearly unbelievable, except that as a social worker I met many young people trapped in similar situations. Mr. Pelzer is brave to share his story as one of the first generation of children who were able to be rescued from their home situations instead of having neighbors, teachers, law enforcement, etc. keep their noses out of people's domestic business. He was on the forefront and remains an impressive voice in the movement against domestic violence.
    • 5/5
      This book is so sad. The story of how awful this young man was treated is so heart wrenching. His mother should have had all her children taken away from her and not just Dave.
      Dave's case of abuse was the worst case in CA history. The sad part is that he isn't the worse case anymore.
    • 3/5
      A Child Called “It” provides a first hand account of abuse and the strength it takes to withstand it. Full of power and emotions, the story leaves some questions as to why certain things happened, yet it perfectly describes life in that some things don’t have answers.
    • 3/5
      I had a patron recommend this to me; once I brought it home, both my daughters said they'd had friends who'd read it in high school. It's an easy read, for a non-fiction book.... It was definitely interesting. I just felt, at times, that it wasn't the BEST writing out there.... (I'm snobby that way.) Also, I kind of wondered, was it all really true--did this kid really go through all that? Or was it embellished to a certain degree? I mean, it's not cataloged as Biography, so I didn't know if it was supposed to be read as a "self-help" book or a "what not to do in parenting" book????
      There's a sequel to this one (maybe it's part of a trilogy, even?), but I'm not going to read on.....
    • 4/5
      This book was well-written, and horrifying. I really wonder what in god's name was wrong with his mother, that some switch flipped in her and suddenly she turned into a monstrously abusive beast, towards just one of her sons. Don't read if you're easily disturbed. A couple incidents nearly had me heaving, and the entire thing is just, boggling. It's...not pretty. But it does paint a terrifying picture of what a child of abuse may live through.Minus one star for the fact that he split the story up into three novels (and I doubt if the other two are much longer). This was only 169 pages (plus excerpts from the other two), and with wide margins and spacing, and it stops the moment the school gets the cop there who takes him away. It doesn't even continue with the temp. foster care while he awaits the trial (or even the hospital visit they stop to make first, which is in the excerpt from book 2), or anything. The second book really ought to have been part of this one.
    • 1/5
      As a former abused and terrified child myself with a mother who got herself pregnant while unmarried at a time where it was not ' the done thing ' and being illegitimate herself, plus my time as a social worker in foster care and adoption, I am no stranger to child abuse, neglect and even parents who kill their children ( I had one case on my caseload where the child was beaten to death).

      I find it hard to believe that nobody at all got involved, no neighbor, teacher, relative, etc, nobody. In my own case much of the abuse was hidden behind closed doors, and I always went to school clean, with my lunchbox and did my homework neatly ( or else ), so I did not look 'like' a battered and molested kid.

      This story just does not ring true for me, I just can't swallow it.
    • 4/5
      I read this years ago and saw it in the library yesterday and decided to revisit it. The author tells about his life of extreme child abuse at home while a young boy from the age of 4 to 12 years old before being rescued by a school teacher and put into foster care. His mother in his very early years was a nurturing and loving mother, but turned into an abusive alcoholic who forced him to wear worn out clothes, beat him severely, starved him and forced him to eat feces from his brother's diaper, his own vomit after stealing frozen hot dogs from school and puts him in the bathroom with a ghastly mixture of clorox and ammonia.It is gut-wrenching, riveting, but also inspirational as he is determined not to let his mother take control of him and turns is label of "bad boy" and is motivated to overcome whatever trials he is faced with and rise above it.
    • 4/5
      This is the most dreadful book I’ve ever read.It is the true story of Dave Pelzer, who was terribly maltreated by his mother and was lucky to survive. Dave was starved and tortured almost to the point of death. He had two brothers who were fed and treated normally. They learnt to be mean to him too.Dave’s father was basically kind but was too weak and scared of the mother to protect the boy, so he was equally culpable, Of course, he should have moved out with Dave and reported his wife to the police. I’ve heard of a man like this before in another real-life case, years ago.Dave remembers his life in the early years as being idyllic - no ill treatment, wonderful food and enjoyable picnics in the park.Suddenly, Mom changed and the starvation and torture began. Mom spent her days lying on the couch watching TV. “--- her voice changed from the nurturing mother to the wicked witch”.What I lack is some kind of attempt at an explanation for why this transformation occurred. When the woman behaved so horrifically and murderously, there must have been some big reason for it. Perhaps some explanation is given in the two sequels to this book, but there is no inkling here, that I could see. The woman should have gone to jail for many years (and also received treatment).I also fail to comprehend that teachers and others who knew the family did not pick up on the problem much sooner. (I didn’t find it clear at what age the ill-treatment began and at what age Dave was removed from the home.) The boy was thin, covered in bruises and clothed in rags, and constantly stole food when he got the chance, which unfortunately was seldom.I won’t recommend that anyone read the book. It is too horrific and painful to read.