Reading - A Child Called 'It'

A Child Called 'It' by Dave Pelzer



A young boy, Dave being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school!--but mostly it was pure sadism.

His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and, when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David.