"A Child Called It" is a story that explains how much the human spirit can endure and remain whole. Pelzer's point in the story was to show that he never gave up. While he couldn’t make the abuse stop, he learned how to manipulate his mother’s behavior enough to keep the situation from getting worse. It is an incredible tale of strength and courage in a person not even old enough to reach the bathroom sink. If a child can endure this and end up being as successful as he is, what the hell do I have to complain about? Pelzer helps us realize how blessed we truly are.
The second thing that Pelzer accomplishes is that he puts a face on child abuse. He refuses to let us have the easy out of just ignoring the abuse we see happen everyday. There are people all around us, similar to those involved in his stories that are suffering in ways that we cannot possibly imagine. To turn our backs on them makes us no better than Pelzer's father, the man who knew better and did nothing. I challenge anyone to read this book and not admit that we must do something to stop the abuse that we see going on everyday to people all around us.
Yet, if you can't handle some graphic and gruesome descriptions of abuse, then this book isn't for you. Pelzer goes into extreme detail on some of the "games" his mother forced him to play and reading it can get pretty difficult. It isn't too terrible though because the story begins with his rescue.
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