This book is about a young boy who is starved, beaten, and tortured by his mother. The beginning of the novel his mother was loving and caring parent, she would always tuck them in at night and read them bedtime stories. One day his mother started drinking and became very abusive to one of her sons, David. David learned that the only way to survive was through his faith in God. During the rough time with David his mother begins to play a game. -“Gripping my arm, Mother held it in the orange-blue flame. My skin seemed to explode from the heat.” “I had stayed alive.” David mothers started creating games and is a very close to killing her son. Another reason she would torture david by making him drink bleach and eat poop. As the book ends the adult from clinic confronts the police on this situation and the student it forced to a foster home.
The connection I can make with this book is that I been abused and can kind of understand the frustration this little boy is going through. The main problem in this novel is the “power” the mother wants to gain whether its hurting him or anyone else. Parents are supposed to the the first trustworthy authority and if parents aren’t there to teach and comfort their children its hard for them to give that to others. This is true in the history of people and governments; the abused child will grow up to be the abuser unless they have real help and support to know what is good and true about themselves.
A child called “IT” was an easy book for me but reading what David went through brought tears to my eyes and I really hope people can change from something so horrible. I hope this message brought people’s attention to realize there is always a solution to abusive acts and it can be solved.
If you suspect any abusive actions in your neighborhood or family please click the link below and save a life.
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/responding/reporting/how/
If you are a victim of abuse and are seeking help please click the link below.
http://www.domesticviolenceroundtable.org/domestic-violence.html
turbo • Mar 8, 2019 at 8:54 am
This is a great and popular book, because it was easy to comprehend and had an exciting story. It however got me really furious at Dave’s mother. I don’t know why she only abuses Dave and not his brothers. She also tries to dehumanize him throughout the book. It’s one thing to vent her anger on Dave when she’s drunk but why does she try so hard to dehumanize him. She has power and authority over Dave but abuses it. That millions of innocent children are getting abused everyday is very upsetting.
Now the question is what role is the government playing in Dave’s life? Well, Dave attends a public school which is run by the government. Yet for along time the staff and facility haven’t reported Dave’s mother after seeing his scars. Aside from that after Dave’s case has been reported to the authorities and his mother was convicted of abuse she still has not faced any criminal charges or punishment and still has custody over her other two sons, This is absurd! She almost murdered Dave several times and is still free. Furthermore having custody over Dave’s brothers. This makes you wonder why the government didn’t make any punishments for child abuse at the time of this story. However today there are laws in place that protect children from abuse.
waterbottle • Jun 6, 2018 at 9:04 am
I agree that awareness on this topic is fairly important because people in these types of situations normally dont like to tell the outside of whats goes on in their home
Aleks35 • Sep 13, 2016 at 2:19 pm
this was my first book that I read completely at Mountain view. For me it is an excellent book with a intense story.
Rooney • Jun 14, 2016 at 9:22 am
I read the same book and everything David faced is horrible to anyone and specially to a child of his age.