Set in the mid 1900’s, the novel “A Child Called ‘It'” by Dave Pelzer is a tragic story about a young boy named David, who is severely abused and tortured by his own mother.

The book starts off with a preview of the happy ending, which is very reassuring throughout this read. Then, you go through David’s everyday life with him and watch how his life gradually starts to fall apart. At first, David refers to his family as “the Brady Bunch of the 1960’s;” his parents are happily married. His mother is the average, perfect, stay-at-home housewife. But suddenly, life started to go downhill for David. His mother becomes an emotionally unstable alcoholic, who started to call him “It.” His brothers turn against him; his last resort is his father, who still seems to try and protect him. But one day, he doesn’t return home from work. David is left in the hands of his mother and her evil games. Only one thing is keeping David alive; his amazing determination and dreams of wanting to be loved.

This book will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat. You never know when to expect David’s mother to pop up and surprise you with a new method of ruining his life.

One thing about this book that surprised me was even though that it is based on a true story, it still took so long for David to be rescued, or for people to noticed the signs of abuse. This story is known as one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. Once you find out that this story is actually true, it makes it much more disturbing. You would think that no one would be able to handle what David went through. But, I also think that is what makes this book so good.

Since the author experienced all of this first hand, he is able to describe everything with so much detail. I would give this book five out of five stars because even though it is a shorter book, it still leaves such a big impact on you.