Blog Post- Independent Reading Assignment

By: Lexus Forman

This book “A Child Called It”, written by Dave Pelzer is spectacular. This book is an autobiography about a child with a very unstable and abusive home. This little helpless boy was brutally abused by his mother, Catherine Roerva. His child abuse case was one of the most severe cases in California history. “A Child Called It” was mentioned in hard rock band Buckcherry’s songs “Rescue Me” and “A Child Called It”. These songs were on the album “Black Butterfly”. I have to believe that I am not the only person who enjoyed this book because this book was on New York’s bestsellers list for 6 years straight; that’s really remarkable.

This autobiography is about a man, Dave Pelzer who was abused as a child by his alcoholic mother. His mother had something against him. She didn’t treat her four other sons anything like she treated Dave. She tortured Dave. She did things to Dave like stuff his face into his brother’s soiled diaper and tried to make eat the feces, or force ammonia down Dave’s throat. Dave has come to a lot of near death experiences from his mother. The crazy thing is, that is mother wasn’t always an evil woman. She was actually a very caring and nurturing mother before she became an alcoholic mother.

             The characters in this memoir are Dave, Dave’s mother Catherine Roerva, Dave’s father Stephan Joseph Pelzer, and Dave’s brothers Stan, Ron, Russell, and Kevin. In this book the main conflict is between Dave and his mother, Catherine Rovera. However, there are minor conflicts in the book with Dave’s father and Dave. Dave’s father feels that he is too tired and stressed out to help Dave with the abuse problem because he is a firefighter and works almost a 24-hour shift everyday. I would have to say that Dave is a very strong and genuine person, and that is why Dave is my favorite character. Dave made it through that bumpy road in his life, and made it to be a very successful person despite the tragedy he went through as a child. Also, even though Dave’s mother is so evil and cruel, Dave doesn’t hate her. He actually loves her to death and cares deeply for her.

This book is a powerful memoir that really makes you think. It made me think of all the times I said “I hate my mother!” or “She gets on my nerves!” Dave would have probably killed for a mother like mine. I just believe that this book teaches people how to be grateful for the good things that you have in your life even though you might think that they are not the best because other people are going through so much more and would die for something that you have.

This book is a great book. It is an awesome book. I don’t think that this book needs any changes or has any weaknesses. This book kept me entertained from beginning to end. The drama never stopped and this might sound a little weird, but this book kept me yearning for more. This book to me was like a drug and I can’t wait to read the one that follows this book, “The Lost Boy”.

This book was not relatable at all. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. Well maybe just one thing, however it is a minor thing. I can relate to Dave with his dad situation. Dave never sees his dad because he works a 24-hour shift and Dave’s dad knows what it is going on in the house, but to a certain extent he doesn’t know how serious it is. My dad doesn’t live with me and I barely see my dad. I can be going through hell right now (even though I am not) and he wouldn’t know a thing because he doesn’t see me at all. Dave’s dad could have saved him from his mother. He wasn’t scared of Dave’s mother; he fought fires for a living!

I would recommend this book to the world! This book is just a stellar example of a memoir. This is a remarkable book to read if you do not love you life so much right now. I wouldn’t recommend this book to the younger audience because the things in this book are too severe for a 10-year-old to be walking around reading. However, this book would be great for teens to read. I say this because being a teen; I know that we take our lives for granted almost every single day, wishing we had the glamour and all the money. We never say I am so blessed and thankful for this in our lives and this book will make you stop and ponder on that.