Chapter 1 Reading Assignment

Summary

The first chapter in A Child Called "It" is about a boy who gets abused my his mom on a regular basis. At times she would not even feed him. The boy arrives at his school where he is taken into the nurses office to go through the normal routine, but she discovers marks and bruises all over the boy's body. He tries to make up a story to protect his mom, but the nurse knows that he is not telling the truth. She then goes on to discover chipped teeth and a stab mark. The nurse returns with Mr. Hansen the principal, and two other teachers, Miss Woods and Mr. Ziegler. They all have a meeting together, and get the police involved. The police officer takes the boy to the Daly City Police Station and calls his mom to tell her that her son David will not be coming home and that he is now in the custody of the San Mateo Juvenile Department. The officer then announces to the boy that he is finally free and that his mother will never hurt him again. 

Important Phrase

An important phrase on page 4 says "Please, just let me eat. Hit me again, but I have to have food." This phrase is important because he knows that he has to be careful to not anger his mother any further or he might not be able to eat at all. He doesn't care how much his mother hits him as long as he's able to have some food. His only way of surviving is to at least eat the leftovers.

  "Pulling It Together"

I see that the main character always fears that he is in trouble with his teachers and principal because he is always in trouble at home and he fears that he's gonna get hit.

I wonder if he has a dad at home and if his dad does the same thing his mom does to him.