Dave Pelzer was born in 1960 and grew up in a middle-class suburb of San Francisco. His dad was a firefighter whose work kept him away for days at a time. His mother was a homemaker and an alcoholic who started abusing Dave when he was four years old.

While his mother cared for the rest of the family, Dave was starved, beaten, burned, and referred to as "the boy" and eventually, "it." His mother made him eat his brother's feces, drink ammonia, and would hold his arm over a gas stove. Dave internalized his mother's hatred and believed he was unworthy of love.

No one stopped his mother. In the Pelzer household, dad worked, and mom raised the boys. Dave says his father was the perfect passive observer. For Dave, survival became a matter of out-witting his mother.

School was a safe haven for Dave. It was a break from his mother's cruelty, and he could steal food from the cafeteria and from classmates' lunches. Teachers noticed his odd behavior and evidence of physical abuse,......

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Title: A Child Called It
Approximate Word Count: 423
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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