{"id":18845,"date":"2020-11-23T13:51:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T17:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=18845"},"modified":"2020-11-28T18:46:24","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T22:46:24","slug":"a-child-called-it-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/","title":{"rendered":"A Child Called &#8216;It&#8217; Author: Criticisms of Dave Pelzer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Who is the author of <em>A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;<\/em>? Is there any controversy around <em>A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;<\/em> and its author?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;<\/em> author has faced some controversy and criticism around the book. The issues focus on profiting from abuse and the belief that some of it may be exaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about <em>A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;<\/em>, the author, and the criticisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Criticisms of the <em>A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;<\/em> Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While this book <a href=\"https:\/\/thriveglobal.com\/stories\/a-child-called-it-gave-me-the-courage-tell-my-story\/\">inspired innumerable child abuse survivors<\/a>, many others have questioned Pelzer\u2019s motivation and truthfulness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, critics claim the author of <em>A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;<\/em> exploited his experiences for profit. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2001\/sep\/02\/biography.features\">The Guardian wrote<\/a> that Pelzer\u2019s vivid descriptions of horrific abuse is \u201cpornographic\u201d and turns child abuse into perverse entertainment. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2002\/07\/28\/magazine\/dysfunction-for-dollars.html\">The New York Times described<\/a> Pelzer as being obsessed with his books\u2019 standings on the Times\u2019s bestseller list (this book and the other two in the trilogy were on the nonfiction paperback list for a record-breaking 448 weeks combined). The Times also noted that Pelzer bought books in bulk to sell at his speaking events\u2014and at the time the article was reported, Pelzer was doing events more than 270 days a year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, critics suspect Pelzer exaggerated details of his abuse. There are three main factors:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Some of his brothers have flat-out denied that certain events happened. Pelzer\u2019s brother Stephen said that Mother didn\u2019t stab David; rather, David grabbed Mother\u2019s arm while she was cutting food and the knife nicked him. (However, in his book, David\u2019s brother Richard says that he was convinced Mother <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/world\/memories-of-a-family-at-war-20050329-gdl0o8.html\">meant to kill David<\/a> when she stabbed him.) Additionally, Stephen told the Times that David was a \u201chyper, spoiled brat\u201d who \u201chad to be the center of attention,\u201d and David\u2019s grandmother\u2014Mother\u2019s mom\u2014said David was \u201cdisruptive\u201d and had \u201cideas of grandeur.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Certain details (such as Pelzer\u2019s age when the abuse began) appear inconsistent among the three books. Other details, such as an explanation for Mother\u2019s abusive behavior and the reason social services finally intervened, were omitted entirely. These inconsistencies and omissions raised eyebrows, especially in contrast to Pelzer\u2019s precise memory of certain events and dialogue.<\/li><li>Pelzer inflates certain accomplishments, which calls his credibility into question. For example, he claims to be a Pulitzer nominee, when, in fact, he submitted his work but received no nomination.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who is the author of A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;? Is there any controversy around A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221; and its author? The A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221; author has faced some controversy and criticism around the book. The issues focus on profiting from abuse and the belief that some of it may be exaggerated. Read more about A Child Called &#8220;It&#8221;, the author, and the criticisms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,20],"tags":[157],"class_list":["post-18845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-ethics","tag-a-child-called-it","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Child Called &#039;It&#039; Author: Criticisms of Dave Pelzer - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The author of A Child Called &quot;It&quot; suffered horrifying abuse, but his book has been criticized. 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Read why the book has been criticized.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-23T17:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-28T22:46:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/a-child-called-it-author-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"A Child Called &#8216;It&#8217; Author: Criticisms of Dave Pelzer\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-23T17:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-28T22:46:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/\"},\"wordCount\":408,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/a-child-called-it-author-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"A Child Called 'It'\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Ethics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/\",\"name\":\"A Child Called 'It' Author: Criticisms of Dave Pelzer - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-child-called-it-author\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/a-child-called-it-author-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-23T17:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-28T22:46:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"The author of A Child Called \\\"It\\\" suffered horrifying abuse, but his book has been criticized. 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