A Child Called "It"

Pelzer, D. J. (1995). A child called "It" one child's courage to survive. Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications.

A Child Called "It" is a moving and inspirational novel by Dave Pelzer. This young boy barely survives his crazy mother's torture and torment and manages to come out with barely enough skin and bones to survive being moved from foster care to foster care. The real life connections that this book could have in a classroom are unreal. Students could easily learn how to write a personal narrative with this book, whether good or bad. Students could learn how to read into the tone of the narrator and other characters with the way his mother talks to him and his father. Students could use this book to learn different moods as well because there are many times in the book where the young boy goes from hopeful to hopeless. This book would be a great way to introduce informational and non-fiction lessons at the beginning of the unit as well.

The only worry I have with this type of novel is the way it would impact those students who deal with abuse at home, and whether or not it would bring in a bad feeling to the classroom. I would hate to produce more worry and concern for students than was needed or was already in their lives.