Book Review Of The Child Called It

A Child Called “It” is written by Dave Pelzer, it is a heart breaking story of one little boy who despite the trials he faced, overcame it all to tell his story. The book is based on him growing up in a home where his mother “selected” him to be her personal slave as he explains. But that was only when it was starting. Now due to his courage, and the bit of faith left inside him, he lives to tell how his experiences have shaped him and to also thank the teachers who selflessly risked their jobs for him that day.

“Mrs. Pelzer, this is Officer Smith from Daly City Police Department. Your son David will not be coming home today. He will be in custody of the San Mateo Juvenile Department.” –A child Called “It”

Mao’s Cultural Revolution was an attempt to create a new culture for China. Through education reforms and readjustments, Mao hoped to create a new generation of Chinese people - a generation of mindless Communists. By eliminating intellectuals via the Down to the Countryside movement, Mao hoped to eliminate elements of traditional Chinese culture and create a new form Chinese culture. He knew that dumbing down the masses would give him more power so his regime would be more stable. This dramatic reform affected youth especially as they were targeted by Mao’s propaganda and influence. Drawing from his experiences as an Educated Youth who was sent down to the countryside Down to the Countryside movement, Ah Cheng wrote The King of

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.

As a child Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother; a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games that left one of her sons nearly dead. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. 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. Dave dreamed of finding a family to love him and call him their son. It took years of struggle, deprivation and despair to find his dreams and make something of himself. A Child Called 'It' covers the early years of

A Child Called “It” brings our attention to mental abuse that adults may inflict on a human being and in this particular case, a child. David’s mother respects the family’s dogs more than she respects her own son. The dogs are fed every day, yet she attempts to starve David. Although David has two other brothers,

The central character in which the story takes off upon is Mitchell Stephens. He is drawn into this case by his own anger. He has his own sense of suffering and confusion toward his own daughter. Stephens is torn by his urge to save her and his fear that he can't possibly do so. He recalls the flashback of his little girl as a toddler at a near death experience and him as her father while singing to her, held her life in his own hands prepared to perform an emergency tracheotomy. And in that way, Stephens' own experience bonds together with the nightmare of those pain stricken parents: the ultimate unbearable burden of caring for children where strength will be tested beyond its limits. Stephen's own daughter in whom he loves dearly has been taken away from him although she is not dead; she is practically gone out of his life. He is pissed off, "enough rage and helplessness, your love turns to steamy piss." (101). Stephen is set to find the cause, something or someone to blame for their misfortunes and to rage against whatever forces took their child, "I don't know if it was the Vietnam war…I don't know

What did I learn from this book? The only thing that comes to mind when I'm asked that question is pain. I didn't know what real pain was until I tried to understand what this child went through. Everything that meant anything to him, his family, those who should be the closest, was drowned out. He didn't know what to think and so often in the world today, we are naive. We don't have a clue of how life could be, and of how lucky we truly are to have the kinds of backgrounds that we were blessed with.

A Child Called It is a book about one of the most severe child abuse cases in California. The book is written in first person, by the author, David `Dave' Pelzer. The main characters in this story include Dave, his father, his

There Are No Children Here is a story of the struggles two preteen boys live with while growing up in the projects. From the first pages the scene is set amongst the all too familiar gun fire blazing through the neighborhood. This story is of eleven year old Lafeyette and nine year old Pharoah dealing with the daily fight for survival in inner-city Chicago circa 1987.

After reading the book, “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer, I will say this a melancholic book that depicts the true child abuse that Pelzer suffered in the hands of his mother. This book describes his horrifying experiences in child abuse and I would greatly recommend reading it. The book is fabulous and once you start reading it you will not want to put it down. Pelzer touches on the cruel abused faced by his mother and his deep willingness to survive and try to get ahead in life. This book is a step toward understanding the many different types of abuse and how to recognize the various forms of maltreatment. I will state three incidences of abuse from “A Child Called It.,” label each incident of abuse, and

A Child Called “It” is a powerful book written by Dave Pelzer about his childhood and the hardships he encountered with his family, peers, and community. Middle childhood can be a life altering point in a young child’s life, which many theorist have studied over the years. This paper will review a few of those theorist thoughts, and how their theories apply to young David’s childhood. The theorist work that will be covered will be Bronfenbrenner and his ecological systems model, Piaget’s theory of development, and lastly Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning. It is important to understand what was going through David’s mind as he dealt with this trauma and how he was able to survive it.

Book Summary- In Fablehaven, two kids, Seth and Kendra Sorenson are dropped off at their grandparents house while their parents go on a cruise for “family reasons.” When they arrive at their grandparents house, Grandpa Sorenson acts suspicious when the kids wonder where their grandmother is. Grandpa Sorenson introduces them to Lena, the housekeeper and Dale who helps with yard work. He then leads them to a spacious attic space where there are many things to be entertained with. Grandpa only has two rules for Kendra and Seth: No going into the woods and never enter the barn. Kendra is given three keys, over a couple of days she finds that one key goes to a jewelry box and one to a dollhouse. In the dollhouse, there are two more hidden

Jonathan Kozol, in the chapter entitled “Other People’s Children, discusses and justifies the kinds of limitations placed on children who must attend poorly funded, educationally inferior school. Kozol argues that children in the inner-city schools are not fit to go to college and that they should be trained in schools for the jobs they will eventually hold, even though these jobs are less prestigious, lowest-level jobs in society. Kozol’s argument is based on the fact that students from the inner-city or rather from the societies that do not have enough job opportunities are not supposed to learn much because their society cannot accommodate most of the courses that are often found in the urban settings. For example, there is a point where Kozol cites one of the businessman’s statement which says, ‘It doesn’t make sense to offer something that most of these urban kids will never use.’ The businessman continues to argue, ‘no one expects these ghetto kids to go to college. Most of them are lucky if they are literate. If we can teach some useful skills, get them to stay in school and graduate, and maybe into jobs, we’re giving them the most that they can hope for’ (Kozol 376). This statement clearly indicate that the society should accept the inequalities and exercise the same inequalities even in education.

This paper evaluates how David Pelzer develops in his memoir, A Child Called “It”. Pelzer is evaluated using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model, Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model demonstrates how Pelzer’s environment impacted his development greatly. Pelzer is greatly influenced through others by how they treat him. Throughout this memoir, Pelzer is in the concrete operations stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The reader is also able to see Pelzer’s development from preconventional morality to conventional morality using Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning.