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

Written by Dave Pelzer

Reviewed by Tatyanna D., BCCHS student

A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer is a compelling story about a young boy and his struggle to survive in the household he calls “horror.” A Child Called “It” is a biography that has 153 pages of a heartfelt story and 31 pages of Epilogue, Perspectives on Child Abuse, and Resources for Help with child abuse.

A Child Called “It” is the unforgettable story of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California. It is the story about David Pelzer being brutally beaten by his torturous, alcoholic mother, who plays unpredictable games that almost leave a young David dead. In order to survive, he must learn how to play his mother’s games. She sees him more as a slave than a son and more as an “IT,” than a boy.

David must sleep in the cold basement in an old army cot and must wear his torn, unwashed clothes every day. When he is allowed the luxury of food, it is merely scraps of cold food or the leftover cereal, left by his brothers. He goes long periods of time without food at all. He develops the habit of stealing and begging for food. As his mother grows to learn about his habits, she keeps a close eye on him, meaning larger punishments.

I chose to read this book because of the cover. I thought that a book with a cover so interesting was worth reading. The cover shows Dave with a hand grabbing his chin. At first I didn’t know what it was, but as I looked carefully I could see it was a hand, the hand of the god that kept David alive. My expectations of the book were low because I don’t expect much from books. I simply want to be either entertained, made laugh or made cry, just like this book did.

“After months of being confined for hours at a time in the garage, my courage took over and I stole bits of frozen food from the garage freezer. I was fully aware that I could pay for my crime at any time, so I ate every morsel as if it were my last meal.” This is an example of a weakness from the book. This weakness shows how Dave Pelzer doesn’t use any expression. He doesn’t describe how he felt. It’s a strong sentence but it just seems blank.

On a scale from one to five, with one being “DUD” and five being “BEST,” I rate this book a five. I rated A Child Called “It” a five because it is the best book I have ever read. Unlike any other book I have read, this one actually made me feel something. It is an extraordinary and inspirational story that takes you through the life of a young boy desperate to find a way out of the torturous life he has been living for almost ten years. It will make you want to laugh, smile and cry. This book touched my heart and I know has touched the hearts of fellow readers. I give this book a two-thumbs up and I am prepared to recommend it to anyone that needs a good book to read.

Sundays at Tiffany's

Written by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet

Reviewed by Stephanie G., BCCHS student

Sundays at Tiffany’s is a literature/romance. Personally I think this book should be rated four stars out of five. The reason for this rating is for the excitement and curiosity of knowing what will happen next.

As a little girl, Jane feels all alone. Her dad does not exist in her life, and her mother is a famous Broadway producer that usually has no time for her and Jane is only able to see her when she is not occupied. The only person Jane truly has is a handsome, comforting, funny friend named Michael, but she is the only one that can see him. About thirty years later, she is as alone as she was thirty years before. Then she has the luck of meeting a handsome, comforting, funny man. His name is Michael. Michael knows the real reason they have been reunited.

Sundays at Tiffany’s is a love story with an irresistible twist, a novel for a teenager/adult to actually bring back a magical story about love. What I love about this story is its details in between each chapter. I am not so satisfied with the fact that there are so many details that it takes a while to get to the main point of the chapter.

(**This book can be found at your local library or bookstore.  It is coming soon to the BCCHS Library.)

The Hunger Games

Written by Suzanne Collins

Reviewed by Jorge O., BCCHS student

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the first book in a trilogy. The book takes place in a futuristic modern world, but no time is given. Here a nation called Panem lies in the ruins of what used to be North America. This nation is divided into 12 districts. The higher the number of the district, the poorer the district is. The main character of the story is a girl named Katniss. She lives in the poorest district, District 12. She lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim. They have to hunt for their own food and struggle to survive because their mother is in a deep depression and Katniss has to take care of her younger sister alone. But Katniss has found herself in a nightmare predicament. Katniss’ little sister, Prim, was chosen to fight in the hunger games, which are held every year. Katniss wouldn’t let Prim enter so she volunteered to take her spot. They had to prepare for the games for weeks which I thought was a bit of a slow start for the book.

One of the reasons that I chose this book is because of the description that the librarian told me. The librarian told a short summary of the book so we know what it’s about and that got me very interested in the book. One other thing that got me interested in the book was the cover. The cover looked like it could be an action book, and the mocking jay pin on the cover looked like it was a symbol for something that the character would have as a prized possession and it looked really interesting.

This was a really great book overall. I thought that the combination of the setting and the plot of the story just went together perfectly. There are some exceptions to the book though. At the beginning, Katniss was just with a friend hunting and talking about the memories of her father. I thought that this beginning was kind of slow. However, as the book progressed there started to be more and more action in the book which kept pulling me back to read it some more. This was a great part of the book that the author did to keep making the reader wonder what is going to happen next, which I loved.

Overall I thought this was an excellent book. The author tied the thoughts of a teenager and the story really well. I would give this book 4.5 out of 5 because it was an excellent book and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

Pet Sematary

By Stephen King

Reviewed by Alan Nguyen

“A hideous mewling sound now arose, and for a moment all of Judson’s bones turned to white ice. It was not Louis’s son returned from the grave but some hideous monster.”

The Creeds are an ideal family—physician father, caring mother, adorable daughter, and infant son—who move to rural Maine to seek a better life. They soon find the new house they are going to be living in, including the path that leads to the pet cemetery. It seems too good to be true, but then Louis Creed, the father, soon discovers the blood-chilling truth of the burial ground behind their new home, an evil enchantment of magic that is hidden within the burial grounds, something powerful, more terrifying than death itself. Death is only the beginning.

Excellent, Stephen King is at his best, spine-tingling and very chilling. This book addresses the mystery of death, and the secrets of burial.

Jackie & Me (Baseball Card Adventures)

Written by Dan Gutman

Reviewed by Manuel C., BCCHS student

**This book can be found at your local library or bookstore.

The book Jackie and Me is a well-written book by Author Dan Gutman. It is a terrific 141-page book. This book is fiction, which means the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration. Like every book, it has its strengths and it has its weaknesses.

This book is about a kid named Joe Stoshack who lives an unnormal lifestyle. He was a boy who lived in Louisville, Kentucky. He has the power and ability to touch baseball cards and travel through time, going to the date of which the card was printed. So he had a report assignment about Black History Month and decided to do his report on Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in baseball. Stoshack decided to use his power of traveling through time to find information about Jackie Robinson and what he did and went through to make history and break the color barrier in baseball. Robinson entered the MLB (major league baseball) in 1947, but Joe Stoshack had a huge problem when a baseball card store owner named Flip told him no baseball cards were printed in 1947. Until Flip finally realized that Joe really needed a card of Jackie Robinson in 1947 he gave him a card of Jackie Robinson becoming a Dodger. So Joe went through time travel to Brooklyn, New York and became a great friend of Jackie’s and learned a lot and why white people judged Jackie for playing in the big leagues. He learned about racism and what a big difference it was between 1947 and the year he was in, but most importantly learned about Jackie Robinson and how he broke the color barrier in the MLB and made history that would last forever.

I chose this book because I always wanted to know how white people let people of color play the same game as them on the same team through a time when racism was a huge part of life. But it wasn’t that they let them; it was a fact that Robinson was a great player and got lucky to be given a chance to play in the big leagues with white people and be able to break a color barrier in baseball and make history. I thought this book was a great one because it had a great style of writing, had great details, didn’t lack any information, and motivated me to keep on reading. No, this is not my favorite book, but it is a book that I will soon read again. Like every other book this one had its strengths and weaknesses. Some of the strengths that this book had was it had a detailed setting, gave visual details, was entertaining, and had a great beginning, middle, and end. Some of its weaknesses were that it didn’t have enough characters, it had some unnecessary information, and sometimes took a while to end chapters. So after reading the book Jackie and Me, I rate it a four out five because it was a great book, but wasn’t the best ever that author Dan Gutman wrote.

The Winds Of Change: A Richard Jury Mystery

Written by Martha Grimes

Reviewed by Rebecca R., BCCHS student

(*This book can be found at your local library or bookstore.)

Are you into mystery fiction books with curiosity increasing with every turn of a page? If you are, then I would recommend Winds of Change to you. Winds of Change is a 407-page novel by Martha Grimes. If you love this book, then you will surely enjoy knowing there are another eighteen books in the series. This book costs $22.95 dollars in stores but if you don't plan on buying it you can always get it at your local library.

This book is about the disappearance of a young girl named Flora whose case is somehow connected to the murder of an elderly woman. Richard Jury is the main character, the Superintendent of Scottland Yard, a detective who is trying desperately to put the pieces together in this strange puzzle that will lead him to a startling revelation.

There are some downfalls to this book such as its frequent change of view, its slow beginning, and the British accents of the characters. For example, "Split the lark and you'll find the music". Although this book has some downsides, it has many positive factors:  It has a great main character, it's a page-turner, it is very mysterious and sure to arouse your curiosity, and it has an amazing ending. "You said her eyes were the same shade as her dress she was wearing...I'm wondering how you knew that...you couldn't have seen the dress because it was...the same day she disappeared." This book is like a nonstop current in a river, you don't know where it will lead or how fast it will go. It keeps you thinking.

I chose to read this book because it had all the qualities I look for in a book such as mystery, crime, detective stories and adventure. If you do too then you'll love this book. The whole concept is a detective doing his job by solving mystery cases, but this case is like no other. In the writing of this book, everyone has a British accent, which indicates that it takes place in England.  I, myself would have preferred it without that given accent, but it is still a great book.

The overall book is amazing, but not the best work I have read so far. I would rate this book a four out of five because it is a great book with some downfalls. I would recommend this book to all readers who love mystery or crime novels. Although, it would be better for you to start off with the first of its series called "The Man with a Load of Mischief". I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

Go Ask Alice

Written by "Anonymous"**

Reviewed by Omar R., BCCHS student

I recently came across a book called “Go Ask Alice” by Anonymous. The author’s name isn’t “anonymous” but a code name in order to protect the real author’s identity. The book itself is a diary of a fifteen-year-old drug addict who struggles with herself. The book consists of 159 pages, goes for a little over a year, and has been modified from the original version for privacy reasons.

To begin with, we never know the author’s name. It begins with “Alice” (code name from book title) as your average American girl who would date, party, etc. She goes to a party where they began playing “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?” Before you know, Alice feels uplifted. She has never felt like that ever in her life. When she returns to reality, she finds out that they had put LSD in her drink and that the “button” was the drug. She felt guilty but also at the same time, she had the urge to do it again for she felt so good by doing so.

“I could smell it and touch it and feel it as well as hear it.

Never had anything ever been so beautiful. I was a part of every single instrument, literally a part.”

-July 10, Go Ask Alice.

Throughout the rest of the book, Alice gets introduced to new drugs and begins doing heavier drugs which cause her to get into various problems. She runs away from home, deals with selling drugs, having sex, etc. As you go more into the book, she feels as though she doesn’t want the life of a drug addict anymore. She comes to realize that she isn’t that type of person and that she wants others to feel the same. She then begins feeling that she wants to help people with drug addiction problems like her to quit.

The main reason I chose this book was because it’s based on real life, not made up. This could happen to anyone. Alice was one of thousands of teens who die from drugs each year. Alice’s story is not unique. It’s one of many out there. It brings up the thought that this could happen to anyone. Overall, this book rose to my expectations. It got me to think over how the choices you make can impact your life. I will admit that everything Alice did before she got into drugs, I do the same. I go to parties, date, go out with friends, have fun and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Also, does that mean that I’m going to get into drugs? No. It just means that the choices you make can make a difference.

Although the book was intriguing and extensively well-written for a diary, I must admit, it can be improved. The book has many gaps for she does not write an entry everyday which leads to unanswered questions. This doesn’t occur just in one part of the book but rather everywhere, especially when she runs away; she writes an entry every three days practically.

Despite everything, I would rate this book a 4.5/5.

(**Note from Ms. Freeman:  Go to Snopes.com for the truth about who wrote this book!)

The Shining

By Stephen King

Reviewed by Alan Nguyen, BCCHS student

"El sueño de la razón produce monstruos."
"The sleep of reason breeds monsters."
– Francisco Goya, painter

A small family of three is staying at the Overlook hotel: Jack Torrance, a former alcoholic who lost his teaching job after beating up a student, Wendy Torrance, a mother who wants to give her family a better life, and Danny, an independent 5-year-old son who has a gift that reflects the evil of the hotel.

Jack is a writer, and decides to become the caretaker of the hotel. Wendy and Danny join along, not knowing the history of the hotel. As time passes, strange things start happening: Jack starts becoming a cold-hearted figure who represents the hotel’s darkness, and Danny soon discovers the family’s future, a bloody nightmare of death, the ghosts of the past wreak havoc on the hotel.

The Shining is one of the best, creepiest books, and it will leave you wanting more. It is the one book that kept me up at night.

Speak

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Reviewed by Abigail N., BCCHS student

The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson leaves a teenage girl speechless after she busts an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, leaving about everyone she know hating her. Struggling with school, friends, and family, she soon goes into a strong depression leading her to do things such as cutting class, spacing out, and hurting herself. She is now challenged to survive high school while encountering bullying, suicidal feelings, and rape along her way. The dark tale of her experiences were now eating her alive little by little each passing day she went without speaking. What happens to her in the end of her first year in high school? You’ll need to find out on your own...

This tough, tender, funny story of a teenage outcast is a great book. Its abundant way of making the text so visual and its way of making the book humorous is upright, but just like any other book it does have its weaknesses. Some of those weaknesses would be unclear or confusing parts, and flashback confusions, but overall I'd definitely give it two thumbs up.

This book, much like others, sends out a message to people going through the same thing, or a somewhat related situation in the story. For example, in the book The Freedom Writers Diaries a class of students write about their everyday lives which also included their struggles. The book inspired many people with the message it was sending, that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Speak also sends a message, but the message of speaking up instead of keeping your problems or feelings bottled up.

Therefore, on a one-through-five scale, I would give this book a good solid four. The reason being is that I found the book to be very good, the format was well put and the story it told was very interesting. Though there were some parts that weren't as great as others, I really enjoyed taking the time to read this book.

I would recommend it to anybody, but mostly to those that don't want to speak but would like to be heard.

The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13)

By Lemony Snicket

Reviewed by Emily P., BCCHS student

This book revolves around the three Baudelaire orphans and Count Olaf, who has wanted their money since day one. In book twelve they escape from a hotel and end up at sea.  They end up cast away on a coastal shelf. Where there is a village who welcomes them with open arms but they soon notice that the leader is very demanding. They try to figure out why and how all the islanders pay attention. The find out it has to do with the cordial he gives them. It is strong so it hypnotizes them. Once the island gets into danger, they try fixing it but the island leader just gives them cordial and they leave before the Baudelaire’s have a chance to save them. While they are trying to save the islanders their friend starts to go into labor and dies. They now have to raise her baby. They stay on the island another year and then decide to leave the island with only what they need.

All books have their good parts and their bad parts. “The End” by Lemony Snicket has them too. The bad points were the flashbacks. They confused you unless you read all the other twelve books. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you read them. Most of the flashbacks are from the book before. Like when they kill one of their friends. Unless you read book five you won’t know what importance that person has. 

The good points are how intense it is. It kept you reading. Like the author said, “Every time a question is answered another one is asked”, which is exactly what kept me reading. Every time you put a piece into the puzzle you would have to figure out where the other one went. It was a real page turner.

This 324 page book with its 13 page Epilogue is really good. But you have to read the first twelve books first. Because some of the characters they mention are from books before. And the most important part of the book revolves around an organization named the V.F.D. which is explained in one of the previous books. I would recommend this to anyone who can play catch up fast. Once you understand the language used you will understand the book. Most of the words in the book that are hard to understand the author defines for you. Over all this is a very good book. And has a lot of adventure and mystery.    

324 pages 13 page Epilogue

Author: Lemony Snicket

Book 13^th of 13.