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1-Page Summary of A Child Called It

Overall Summary

A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive is a memoir detailing the life of author Dave Pelzer. In it, he describes his struggles with abuse from his mother until fifth grade. The book was published in 1995 and received much acclaim by critics and readers alike. Pelzer has appeared on several television shows including Oprah Winfrey’s show as well as Montel Williams’ show. However, there have been many skeptics who question if the story is true or not because some members of Pelzer’s family have denied it happened. Richard Pelzer wrote his own memoir that corroborates much of Dave’s story in 2006 called A Brother’s Journey: Surviving a Childhood of Abuse.

Dave Pelzer begins his memoir with an account of the day he was rescued. He had been abused by his mother and stepfather for years, but one morning while going to school, he was stopped by the principal and several other teachers who asked him about all the bruises on his body. The police were called to question him further, as well as Child Protective Services.

In Chapter 2, Pelzer looks back to his childhood and recalls the good times when he had a loving mother who was creative. Catherine was also controlling though. In this chapter, we learn about how she became abusive later on in life.

In Chapters 3 – 6, Pelzer talks about how his mother abused him. She would make him stand in front of a mirror and tell himself that he was bad. She also locked him in the bathroom with an ammonia bucket to punish him for being bad. Throughout these chapters, she lied to cover up her abuse by making Dave say that he fell down when she hurt his arm or saying that he fell out of bed when she hit his leg. At this point, Dave realizes that there is no going back to the way things were before because his mom will never change into the kind parent from before.

Though the book reveals Catherine’s delusions by making up crimes for Dave to have committed, Pelzer learns to take back his agency and find ways of dealing with her abuse. One way is by distracting her or stealing food when she tries to starve him.

Chapter 5, “The Accident,” reveals the lengths of Catherine’s rage. It also signifies that Dave’s father is complacent when it comes to his son’s safety and well-being. In Chapter 7, “The Lord’s Prayer,” Stephen leaves the family for good. While he was gone, teachers became increasingly suspicious about Dave and Child Protective Services took him away from his parents.

Pelzer reflects on his life in the Epilogue, “Sonoma County, California.” He tells how he overcame many challenges and eventually joined the military and started a family of his own. Stephen accompanies him to this place where he spent much time as a child and is happy to be there with him.

The book has a section called “Perspectives on Childhood Abuse.” It provides resources for people who are suffering from abuse as well as narratives from experts in the field and minor characters in Pelzer’s memoir.

Chapter 1: “The Rescue”

It is March 5, 1973. Dave Pelzer is a fifth grader who has to hide his mother’s abuse from the school officials at Thomas Edison Elementary School. He also remembers that his mother was once beautiful with luxurious hair, but she now looks overweight and unkempt.

Dave’s mother is abusive to him. She tells him to stick his hands in scalding water and he complies, but he doesn’t let her “take away my will to survive”. She orders him to tell teachers that the burns came from an accident. He gets sent home from school after this incident and the people there are already waiting for him, including a policeman who calls Dave’s mom and tells her that Dave won’t be going back home again. The policeman says that now he’ll finally be free of abuse.