A Child Called "It"

I felt this way because I felt bad for the poor child who was getting beaten and starved by his mother. His mother would only feed him if he completed his chores in time and if they were done well. If he didn't finish the chores or they were done poorly he wouldn't get any dinner or breakfast. Because of this he was very hungry and was basically forced to steal food or beg for it to survive. His mother would perform torturous beatings and other horrible acts on him. One of her favorite was the gas chamber effect. She would put a bucket of ammonia in the bathroom and close the door. Then the ammonia would spread throughout the room and make it very hard to breath and burn the throat of David. He almost died every time she did this. She also beat him severely. One time David's mom even stabbed him because she told him if he didn't finish his chores in 20 minutes she would kill him. He didn't finish the chores quick enough and his mom dropped a knife on him and it stabbed him in the stomach. His mom didn't even take him to the hospital. She just wrapped the stab wound and made him finish the chores. Luckily for David he ended up going to a foster home. This book made me very sad.

There was one major thing me and David didn't have in common. This was obvious what we don't have in common and that is that my mother doesn't beat me. Unlike David's mother who treats him as if he were a target dummy or something like that my mother just takes something away from me when I get in trouble (which doesn't happen a lot). Another thing we don't have in common is that I get dinner every night and can eat whenever I want to.

There were many passages in the book that got me thinking a lot. One of them was “Maybe tomorrow I'll get dinner.” This just shows how hard this kids life was. He was always looking forward to the next day just so maybe he will get some food. Another passage was “Maybe that is what she has planned for me. Maybe she wants me to drink my own pee.” This just shows how he had to think of the horrible things that were going to happen to him. Just so he can prepare himself so it would not be as bad as if it caught him by surprise. The final passage that made me feel really bad for him was by his farther. “Try to make her happy and stay out of her way” he said. That showed how even his farther was scared for him and his mothers relationship. I recommend this book to everyone.