[This book] is [an] account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games - games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."--Back...

A survivor to the utmost degree, Dave Pelzer endured a childhood of harsh physical and psychological torture by his alcoholic mother. Once rescued, it was assumed because of his mothers abuse, he would end up either dead or in jail, with no hope for a happy life. Pelzer has proven these predictions wrong. In the wake of his stunningly written and bestselling trilogy, which chronicles his life from tormented child to inspirational leader, Pelzer give...