The book I read is called A Child Called It. It is written by Dave Pelzer. The theme of this book is to keep hope alive. You should have faith and dreams to have something to look forward to in your future especially when you feel you can’t go on any more. Like Dave, he felt trapped as if he was never going to be free.
He used his dreams and illusions every time he was hurting to help him get away from the pain. This is what kept this little boy alive. He had something to reach for and never quit. The protagonist is a 9 year old boy, Dave Pelzer.
The setting mostly takes place in his mother’s house. All of a sudden his mother and father started drinking and had problems in their relationship. His mother is always telling him how he ruined her life and treats him worse than a dog. He sleeps in the basement and is punished very severely when he does something “wrong” according to her. His father didn’t like to argue with his mother so never really did anything.
People at school didn’t know what was going on. Dave felt unloved and unwanted. He was lonely and didn’t have any friends. Since he only got to wear new clothes once a year, he was often made fun of . David goes through several changes.
In the beginning David was a very happy child and had a perfect family. His mom was very loving and took care of them. They would go on family trips and had a good time. Everything changed when his parents started fighting and got a divorce.
His father started drinking and his mother started beating him and treating him lower than a animal. David at first did everything his mother ordered. He always thought his father was going to save him and take him away. As time passed by, he saw that things were just getting worse between his mother and him and his father wouldn’t do nothing about it.
He lost hope and didn’t care about anything. But he started to dream at night that one day he would get out of the hell hole he was living in. He realized that if he wanted to survive he would have to be strong and beat his mother at her torturing games. He just kept thinking to himself one day I will get out of here. He started building a self-esteem. He started realizing what was happening wasn’t his fault and one day decided to tell someone at school.
The conflict of the story was Dave’s mother. She was cruel and unloving. She would drink and abuse Dave. For some reasons she never beat any of her other kids. Every time he stood up to her she would tell him he was a nobody or an “it”. She did cruel things for no reason.
For example one time she tried putting him on the stove to burn him. Other times she would make a gas out of ammonia and Clorox in the bathroom and lock him in there for hours. The climax of the story is when people at school start noticing cuts and bruises on David. When a social worker is sent to his house, his mother starts treating him with love and pretends she’s sorry. Dave believes it and doesn’t say anything when the social worker comes.
Dave thinks his dreams have come true and is very happy not knowing when the social worker left he would return to being beat and abused. What I learned from this book is that it is good to have hope. It keeps you strong and helps your mind overcome bad things in life. Also I have learned it isn’t always the kids fault for his looks and actions, they could be in the same situation as David.
Yes I would recommend this book to some one else. To me it was very interesting and touching knowing what David and other children being abused go through. I don’t understand how a person like David’s mother can do such cruel things to a innocent young child.
