A Child Called It:

      The Child called it was a really sad book. I can't even imagine what David must have felt when his mom turned on him. His mom started off being a decent mother, then she started drinking and started blaming David for all of her problems. She would have her sons go on random searches for "supposedly missing items," and she'd have them search for hours. Then, she just started making David search for her things. David never found them, so she would tell him how worthless he was. That was just the start of it. Then she started smashing his face against the mirror, hitting him, and one time, she even tried to put him on top of a hot stove and burn him. His mother started going crazy. What I still don't really understand, is why his mother just changed this drastically. I mean, I know it was probably due to the liquor, but why did she start drinking so heavily in the first place? That is something the book doesn't really explain. Anyway, the drinking didn't only affect David, it affected David's father too. Sometimes the mother would even start screaming at the husband and force David to say things that made his father "wrong" and his mother "right." This bothered David, he said,"This bothered me because I felt like I was biting the hand that often fed me." His father was the one who would sneak him food at times and help him with the dishes. However, David was still angry at his dad, because his dad didn't really do anything to stop his mother from beating him. At one point in the story, his father walks out on the family. He broke his promise to David. He told David that he would take him along when he left. This was frustrating to me as the reader. I wanted his father to save him from his situation. Even though his father didn't save him, someone else did. One day, in fourth grade, David found out he would be having a substitute teacher for about two weeks. The sub was kind to him. The sub ended up telling the school nurse about David's bruises. The nurse started calling David in on a regular basis to check his body for new bruises. As a result of this, the school finally calls child protective services. David is picked up by the police and brought into foster care.

I liked this book a lot, even though it was really sad. I read it in two days. I couldn't put it down. Even though it was sad, I really wanted to keep reading to find out if he was going to be okay or not. David had so much courage and strength. He was able to keep himself going even under the worst of circumstances. I want to read the next book to find out what happens when he goes into foster care. I am really glad that he ended up getting away from his mother. My only concern is that his new foster parents won't be kind either, but I'll find out when I read the next book called "The Lost Boy."

This is David's personal website:

http://www.davepelzer.com/

As far as difficult vocabulary in this book... I didn't think there was any.

This concludes my wiki report.... Hope you guys like it :)