A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive

David J. Pelzer's mother, Catherine Roerva, was, he writes in this ghastly, fascinating memoir, a devoted den mother to the Cub Scouts in her care, and somewhat nurturant to her children--but not to David, whom she referred to as "an It." This book is a brief, horrifying account of the bizarre tortures she inflicted on him, told from the point of view of the author as a young boy being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school!--but mostly it was pure sadism. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David. One wants to learn more about his ordeal and its aftermath, and now he's written a sequel, The Lost Boy, detailing his life in the foster-care system.

Though it's a grim story, A Child Called "It" is very much in the tradition of Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul and the many books in that upbeat series, whose author Pelzer thanks for helping get his book going. It's all about weathering adversity to find love, and Pelzer is an expert witness.

• The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family
• A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness
• The Privilege of Youth: A Teenager's Story
• A Brother's Journey: Surviving a Childhood of Abuse
• The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
• Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect (9th Edition)
• Reaching & Teaching Children Exposed to Trauma
• A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness
• Spilled Milk: Based on a true story
• Go Ask Alice (Anonymous Diaries)