Dave Pelzer

David Pelzer
Pelzer speaking to Airmen while visiting troops in Southwest Asia.
Born	(1960-12-29) December 29, 1960 (age 56) Daly City, California
Occupation	Autobiographer, motivational speaker
Nationality	American
Notable works	A Child Called "It", Help Yourself
Website
www.davepelzer.com

David James "Dave" Pelzer (born December 29, 1960 in San Francisco, California) is an American author, of several autobiographical and self-help books. He is best known for his 1995 memoir of childhood abuse, A Child Called "It".

Pelzer was born in San Francisco, California, and was the second of five boys. He grew up in the city of Daly City, California. He is the son of Stephen Joseph Pelzer (1923–1980), a San Francisco fireman, and Catherine Roerva Christen Pelzer (1929–1992). Pelzer's books describe the abuse he suffered as a small child for several years, including continual mistreatment and beatings by his mother, who he said thought of it as a game. His teachers stepped in on March 5, 1973, wherein 12-year-old Pelzer was placed in foster care. At age 18 he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1979 and served in the Gulf War. Pelzer married in the 1980s to his first wife, Patsy (a pseudonym), with whom he had a son. In 1996, he carried a torch in the 1996 Summer Olympics torch relay. Pelzer and Patsy divorced and many years later he married his second wife, Marsha, who was his editor.

His book A Child called "It" describes from his viewpoint about the severe abuse he suffered as a child. He writes how his mother was physically and emotionally abusive towards him from ages 4 to 12. In his book he describes how his mom starved him, forced him to drink ammonia, stabbed him in the stomach, burned his arm on a gas stove, and forced him to eat his own vomit. He mentioned that his father was not active in resolving or stopping the conflicts between Pelzer and his alcoholic mother. In 1973 at age 12 he was sent to a foster family. In the book he uses pseudonyms to reference his relatives.

One of Dave's brothers, Richard B. Pelzer, published his own autobiography detailing his experiences as well called A Brother's Journey. Paraphrased, Pelzer said in the afterword of his book that his objectives for his story was to show how a parent can turn to be abusive and how the human spirit can triumph and survive.