A Child Called It is Dave Pelzer's heartbreaking account of the child abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his alcoholic mother. From ages 4-12, Dave was stabbed, burned, and starved, among a series of many other equally horrific incidents of abuse. His memoir, a remarkable record of the human spirit's ability to survive, goes on to tell of how he was eventually taken in by a foster family, and of his journey to a happy adulthood.