Books like a child called it

David James Pelzer (born December 29, 1960 in San Francisco, California) is an American author, of several autobiographical and self-help books. His 1995 memoir of childhood abuse, A Child Called "It", was listed on The New York Times Bestseller List for several years, and in 5 years had sold at least 1.6 million copies.

Pelzer was born in San Francisco, California the second of five boys. He grew up in Daly City, California. He is the son of Catherine Roerva Christen Pelzer (1929-1992) and San Francisco fireman Stephen Joseph Pelzer (1923-1980). Pelzer's books describe the abuse he suffered for several years of childhood, 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, when 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. In the 1980s Pelzer married 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.