A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive

A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive is a memoir detailing author Dave Pelzer’s struggles with his abusive mother until the fifth grade. Published in 1995 by Health Communications Inc., it is the first in a series of books that chronicle Pelzer’s fight to leave his dysfunctional household, move through the foster care system, and enter into a stable adulthood. The book was listed on The New York Times best-seller list for several years. Pelzer has made appearances on television programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Montel Williams Show. Though the book received mass public acclaim, it drew skepticism regarding the story’s authenticity, most notably voiced in a 2002 The New York Times article by Pat Jordan. Several of Pelzer’s family members have denied the account. However, Dave Pelzer’s brother Richard Pelzer wrote his own memoir in 2006, A Brother’s Journey: Surviving a Childhood of Abuse, that corroborates much of Dave Pelzer’s story.

Dave Pelzer begins his memoir with the story of his rescue. When the reader first meets young Dave, a fifth grader, he is emaciated, black and blue with injuries, and barely surviving. One morning, as soon as he enters the school building, he is summoned to meet with the school nurse and several other administrators who question him about his bruises.