#david pelzer

[kael-writ]

TW Child Abuse & not believing victims

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer meant a lot to me as a kid. While my abuse was not as extreme, the psychology of the abuser and the abused was so intimately familiar. I saw my Mom in that woman. Im not saying my Mom was that bad, or was exactly the same, Im saying I saw the same psychological state of being emotionally out of control and twisting it into sadism against a child.

It disturbs me revisiting this book that the author is accused of fraud. And the accusations aren't based on solid evidence, not any that I can find.

The article that started these accusations of lying, in 2002 in the NYT, is behind a paywall and Im honestly not going to the effort of going around it, I am sure the kids today know how to go around paywalls but I don't want to read it and get all upset that badly tbqh. It's by a sportswriter, Pat Jordan, who dabbled in true crime who somehow got to say that for the New York Times but the secondhand sources citing it dont show that Jordan actually provided evidence. They also claim Jordan had a hostility towards therapy. Jordan has his own memoir out where he accuses his own father of being a con artist. So it kinda seems like he is someone who would be hypervigilant to thinking someone is grifting.

The reasons people give for not believing him just read like a laundry list of all the reasons people call all abuse victims liars. Some of his relatives say they think he exaggerated, but still say there was abuse, like a 90 year old grandma who lived in another state and some - not all - of his brothers. The other scapegoated brother confirms the abuse in his own book. Well, that's typical. The other kids were both privileged by the abuser and separated from the rituals of abuse and Dave's life in general, young, brainwashed. Lots of times the "golden child(ren)" deny abuse. They're meant to. The abuser has arranged it that way. They're kids, they're warped by an abuser, they are in denial and feeling guilty. The majority of the abuse of the scapegoat will be entirely in private, as Dave's was.

People point out that the memoir of his childhood going only up to age 12 reads.... like a memoir of childhood memories does... as the.. memories of a child. Like, yea some stuff might have seemed "exaggerated" to him. The amount of time something took, for example, would be really common for a child to misremember. He says in the forward it is meant to capture his childhood memories!

Dave also says openly he changed names. The book is - a book. It's carefully written and edited. It's presented to the reader. It's... a book.

To get attention? Yes! You grew up abused and that was hidden and you want the world to see it! You want to save other kids! That is understandable and not a bad thing. Yes, he is bringing attention to child abuse and to his life. And yes, he's making money from it. He wants to make money from telling his story, it's hard, time and energy consuming work and in this society it's really hard to do anything you can't monetize, frankly, we should all know that by now. The man has a child, a child he devotes himself to giving a completely different life from his, one of love and safety and peace, - god forbid he makes any money from writing a book.

As Dave DETAILS in his book not just very openly but clearly to educate us on how abuse works, abused kids have to learn how to deceive and appease to survive the abuser. To tense part of your body before a punch, to cry when that will help or show no emotion if that will help, to steal food, to lie about injuries.

So could Dave's adult work as a motivational speaker, could his story telling, come off as someone with some skill in some manner of audience manipulation? Sure dude. Everyone does that sometimes, every writer and actor does that when performing. That doesn't mean someone just made up their whole life story.

People say he couldnt have survived all that. Unfortunately, and fortunately, people have survived worse. And again, yea sure, maybe the week he remembers eating nothing he did actually eat a bite somewhere. Maybe the time he got stabbed it wasnt as deep as the book makes it sound, it seemed deeper to a kid. Sure, maybe a couple little details are off.

eta: another claim is that he "doesn't have PTSD" and functions well in life. If you read his follow up work, he does struggle with PTSD, and even if he didn't, not everyone who, say, comes back from war has it, it clearly depends. And the idea that survivors will never function and thrive is false and insulting. Look at Oprah, Maya Angelou, Elie Wiesel ffs. People CAN survive! /eta

The other main claim is "how did she get away with it? Her kid coming to school every day with bruises and dirty clothes and no one did anything?" Yea dude. Especially in the 70s. Yes. Children get murdered by abusers to this day after a CPS failure. And that's when it gets reported at all. The teacher in the afterward who was one of Pelzer's saviors said he didn't even have any understanding of child abuse back then. It hasnt even always been illegal to abuse a kid. To this day, hitting and verbally abusing your kids is largely legal. There's a line, there's been progress (BECAUSE of people like Dave) but a lot of abuse is still legal.

People say he didnt provide enough proof to them of this hidden child abuse from when he was under 12 in the 70s. I dont even know what they expect. The only external proof I have of my own abuse are the times someone else witnessed something, most of the physical stuff was only seen by a fellow sibling occasionally, neighbors heard some yelling, that's about it. but it's not like we had phones and filmed it even in the 90s, it's not like my parents signed a form when they lost their temper. Its not like abusers take the kid to the doctor. The couple times someone called cops or DCFS they didnt do their jobs. There isn't just - collected evidence of all this stuff. That's- beyond unreasonable. At most there might have been some documentation of the child custody proceedings, in the 70s I really don't know if that would be available now.

And something that is striking about these allegations is that on EVERY forum alleging them you start to see abuse victims saying "that's very realistic actually. That's what it's like".

You also don't see the actual proof of fraud. Proof the teacher who wrote the afterward doesnt exist, for example, something like that. That is what you see with actual fraud cases. The person was actually not in the USA on 9/11. Stuff like that. That's proof of fraud.

Does it sound like that's a high bar to clear to call him a fraud? I don't think so, I think an abuse victim (or a person with cancer, or whatever thing that very rarely people lie about but most people arent lying about) should be believed or at the very least not persecuted like this unless you have extremely good evidence. I particularly think a journalist shouldn't make those allegations without doing actual journalism.

When 9/11 survivors and journalists started suspecting fraudulent "victim" Tania Head, they DID RESEARCH. They FOUND PROOF. Hard evidence. She was in Barcelona on 9/11. They didn't just start accusing her without proof. Because that would have been awful. And unlike Dave, she was being a jerk to other survivors, she was not showing mutual support, I dont see anyone so much as claiming Dave didnt support other survivors. Survivors seem to appreciate him, in fact.

Is it possible it's fake? I guess. Is it likely? No, it's not. Is there reasonable evidence of fraud? Not to my knowledge. Im obviously incredibly biased here, and yes I will be so crushed if it turned out to be a fraud, but I would want to see that evidence, Id want to know - if it is actually solid, compelling evidence, not just some redditor's misunderstanding of how abuse works.

In over 20 years, no one has gone and found actual proof that Dave lied. It's still just rumors and speculation burned onto his wikipedia and his legacy. A message to him as a survivor and every survivor watching, that we STILL are not to be believed.

Abuse survivors shouldn't have to live with the stigma of presumed guilt, of never feeling like we can ever just be believed. Coming forward about abuse should not mean you are indefinitely publicly on trial in a state of presumed guilt. You don't have to 100% believe every story you hear. But abusers thrive on the silencing of victims. At some point, if we want abuse to stop being a driving force in society causing so many problems and so much pain, we're gonna have to start believing victims.

[theminecraftbox]

https://i.ibb.co/8s85HZt/Untitled192-20231212220445.png

extremely cluttered web weave for coparent basement era. guess who regretted the canvas size half way though?

Caged Bird by Maya Angelou // The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller // A Child Called "It" by David Pelzer // Educated by Tara Westover // The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood // Saint Bernard by Lincoln // song of a caged bird by stressplex // Sippy Cup by Melanie Martinez // Born a Crime by Trevor Noah // Othello by Shakespeare // Black Boy by Richard Wright // 1984 by George Orwell // The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky // Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison // The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

(the attached image)

YOOOO? THIS IS SICK! this is making me sick!

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

DAVE PELZER

DAVE PELZER

1960

A Child Called ‘It’ (1995 memoir)

Dave Pelzer from California is best known for his memoir A Child Called ‘It’ (1995) which was an account of being singled out as a child and being abused by his mother during the 1960s and 1970s. The book helped bring awareness of child abuse and mothers who abuse their children.

His mother Catherine Roerva (Pelzer) (1929-1992) singled Dave out from amongst his brothers and would lash out at him. She physically and emotionally abused him from the age of 4 to 12. His mother 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. She would refer to Dave as ‘It’ and would exclude Dave on family holidays. Dave craved the love and acceptance of his mother and on the odd occasion, she would show him love and tenderness. Dave and his family have admitted that Catherine had a drinking problem, was frustrated due to raising her five children and there was also the possibility that she was mentally ill.

His father Stephen Pelzer (1923-1980) turned a blind eye to the abuse and didn’t do anything to stop it. His father who was also a heavy drinker left his wife because he couldn’t handle her anger problems anymore. Stephen died in 1980.

Dave said in his book that a teacher became aware of the abuse and helped put Dave, aged 12, into foster care in 1973. His mother Catherine was never tried or prosecuted for her child abuse crimes and continued raising her children. She died in 1992.

Dave spent time with his parents as an adult and that his mother told him that if he hadn’t been rescued she would have killed ‘It’.

Dave’s brother, Stephen said that the reason why David went into foster care was that “he started a fire and was caught shoplifting”. Dave said that Stephen “worshipped my mum. He misses her terribly because she protected him.”

Dave’s brother, Richard B. Pelzer published his own autobiography, A Brother’s Journey (2000) that detailed his own experiences. Richard affirms much of what Dave had said in his own book and described his own abuse when David was removed from the family home. Dave claimed that Richard as a child participated in his mother’s abuse, sided with his mother against David, but when Dave was sent into foster care Richard said that he was his mother’s next victim.

The five brothers have not kept in touch, Richard was shocked when he first saw Dave’s book in the stores and read the book all in one go. He was shocked and angry that his brother had opened the family closet and exposed its skeletons.

It was at their mother’s funeral in 1992 which brought the five brothers together for the first time since they were living together as children. Catherine’s Will stated that her estate would be split amongst her four sons and purposely left Dave out of her Will. The four boys let Dave have his fair share of the money even though there was little money to go around.

Richard said that he doesn’t know Dave and all they share is the same last name. When Dave was in Boston giving a lecture, he and Richard met up to have a talk for a few hours and Richard stated that they were both a little standoffish.

The boy’s grandmother “Gram”, Catherine’s mother, did not live in the same state as the family and had little contact with them during their childhood. She said that her daughter didn’t permit her to see her grandchildren and she believes it was due to her daughter’s problems with alcohol. She said that she believes that Dave was abused but she believes he exaggerated events. She believes Richard was lying about being abused because he never previously told her about it and she believes he only said he was abused to make money. Gram stated that the boy’s brothers don’t approve of Dave and Richard’s books.

Their brother Kenneth believes that Richard was ‘mentally abused’ by their mother but said that Richard ‘had an entirely different memory than mine’.

At the age of 18, Dave joined the US Air Force in 1979 and served in the Gulf War. During the 1980s he was married and the couple had a son, the couple divorced and he remarried.

Dave Pelzer released his second book, The Lost Boy: A Foster Child’s Search for the Love of a Family (1997) which covers what happened to Dave as a teenager. His third book, A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness (1999) is about his life as an adult and how he forgave his father. Dave continued writing self-help books about recovering from abuse and healing.

#davepelzer#achildcalledit

[msclaritea]

Ohio lawmakers congratulate Church of Scientology on opening new Columbus location

OHIO POLITICS

Ohio lawmakers congratulate Church of Scientology on opening new Columbus location

Updated: Nov. 12, 2019, 8:01 p.m.|Published: Nov. 12, 2019, 3:25 p.m.

Columbus Church of Scientology

More than a thousand cheer during Saturday's grand opening of a new 50,000-square-foot Church of Scientology building in Columbus. (Church of Scientology International)

1,835 shares

By Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio—State lawmakers welcomed the opening of a gleaming new Church of Scientology in Columbus last weekend, praising the work done in Central Ohio by the controversial church.

The 50,000-square-foot building, just northwest of downtown, was opened to great fanfare on Saturday, with a brass band playing “Hang On Sloopy” and speeches delivered by Scientology leader David Miscavige and state Rep. Adam Miller, among others.

Miller and Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Perry County Republican, also signed a commendation on behalf of the Ohio House of Representatives congratulating the Church of Scientology on its new Columbus location.

“Over the years, the Church of Scientology of Central Ohio has outgrown four buildings, and it has provided a source of moral guidance and spiritual motivation for each member of the congregation,” the commendation states. “On the opening of their new facility, these fine individuals have accepted the challenge of carrying their beliefs into the future, and we applaud them on their tremendous efforts.”

Scientology commendation

A commendation signed by House Speaker Larry Householder and state Rep. Adam Miller congratulating the Church of Scientology on the opening of its new building in Columbus.

The Church of Scientology has faced massive scrutiny and vilification for decades, with critics accusing it of being a cult that has exploited and abused its members. Scientology leaders have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Bari Berger, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, objected to the use of the word “cult” in this story, stating in an email that “That word is used by those who promote hate speech” and is “generality and hearsay.”

Miller, a Columbus Democrat, said in an interview that he agreed to speak at Saturday’s grand opening at the request of some local Scientologists who live in his district. Miller said church members have been very involved in organizing neighborhood block watches and promoting anti-drug campaigns in local schools.

“That’s a valuable effort, and I’m not going to pick and choose between churches when …a constituent asks me to come and wish a new church well in my district,” said Miller, who said he personally is not a Scientologist, but rather a member of the United Churches of Christ.

Miller added later: “They’re just like anybody else that I represent, whether they belong to a synagogue, a Catholic Church, or – in this case – the Church of Scientology.”

In a release, the Church of Scientology stated that its new building in Columbus will serve the entire Central Ohio region, from Dayton to Mansfield. The facility includes a public information center, a chapel, a café, and an entire wing of rooms for “auditing” sessions, during which people are questioned with an e-meter (a machine that resembles a lie-detector test) to locate areas of “spiritual distress.”

The Church of Scientology has been active in Columbus since 1974, according to the Ohio House’s commendation. Prior to Saturday’s grand opening, the church was located in a building near Capitol Square in downtown Columbus.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[dirtydishwater]

read a child called it, It's such a well written book.

Author David pelzer openly talked about his past, the dark past of living with his mother.

Read it right now, you will not regret!

[amestilskin]

Did my hyper fixation really take me 40 minutes?

All I did was re-organize my books.

Also, I found more religious books, so those are gonna be donated as well.

So now the books that are geared toward pre-teens/teenagers are at the bottom, and adult-ish books are above.

I also realized while making this post that I forgot to eat

[books-in-media]

“That’s what happened to Dave Pelzer, author of the famous book A Child Called “It”. I read it that year [...]”

“Because of the impact A Child Called “It” and it’s sequels had on me, I thought I might do something related to foster care.”

The Pregnancy Project by Gabby Rodriguez, (2012)

—A Child Called “It”, David Pelzer (1995)

[whatamidoingwithmylifeman]

😘 Are you in love?

📚 what's your favorite book?

Am I in love?

am i?

I don’t know dear you tell me. OF COURSE I FUCKING AM! And they both the best partners an enby can ask for

My favorite book?

Well if I had to chose one....A Child called It by David Pelzer

[thedepressedweasel]

I’m currently reading that Dave Pelzer book called “The Lost Boy” and, fuck, that really hit me like a ton of bricks! Dave’s mother named Catherine Roerva had abused her aforementioned son and had never loved anybody...and when she found out that he chose to be a permanent ward of the state instead, she ended up doing all that she could to ruin his new life by lying to the whole county about his so-called crimes in the hope that he would end up in a mental hospital forever, but he still ended up with different foster parents (who were good to him BTW) until he turned 18, after which he had to leave them and join the Air Force.

Oh, and his father never loved him, nor did he ever care about any of his sons (including Dave himself). Just for that, he can die!

I think this book should be recommended.

[month9books]

Five Summer Reads for Reluctant Readers

recommended by Scott Wilson, author of Metl: The ANGEL Weapon

I'm a very picky reader. If I'm not one-hundred-percent enjoying a book, I will put it down, move onto something else, and not worry about picking it back up again—no scruples given. In fact, I'd say that on average I probably only finish one out of every five books that I start.

And I don't think I'm alone in my pickiness. Sure, we can toss blame at diminishing attention spans or the collapse of culture, but honestly between YouTube, Netflix, video games, and heck, so many great other books out there, there's just an overwhelming number of choices. Why waste your time with one you're not completely loving?

So if you know someone who might also be a picky reader like me, maybe one of the books on this summer reading list could grab their attention.

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

There was recently a big commotion on Twitter when a parent tweeted that their son's teacher didn't let students choose what to read for summer reading because "they'd just read graphic novels and fantasy." To that I say… let them read whatever the heck they want!

I've always been a fan of the idea that, rather than forcing boring tomes into kids' heads, we should just let them have fun, read what they want, and help them foster a life-long love of reading. And there's no better place for a reluctant reader to start than with the Japanese manga One Piece.

One Piece is exciting; it's full of pirates, characters with crazy superpowers, and incredible fights against bad guys, but it goes way deeper than that. It asks the reader difficult questions, such as what really is justice, and who gets to decide? Not only that, but the villains are fleshed-out mini masterpieces, the world building is the best I've ever seen, and each character's backstory is heart wrenching. In fact, One Piece has the honor of being the only written story that has made me cry. Set sail for a roller coaster of emotions with this incredible series!

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

What better story for a reluctant reader than one about a reluctant learner? Milo is a boy who regards "the process of seeking knowledge as the greatest waste of time of all," until one day when he is swept away into The Lands Beyond. There, all types of learning come alive: there is Dictionopolis, the kingdom of words; Digitopolis, the kingdom of numbers; the Forest of Sight; the Valley of Sound; and of course, the Island of Conclusions, which you have to jump to, naturally.

My father read this book to me when I was five, when he just happened to be taking a college course on the book itself, which shows the breadth of ages that can appreciate this book. Young children can enjoy the fun adventure of Milo and Tock the time-dog, older kids can chuckle at all the clever wordplay, and teens can appreciate the deeper meaning and metaphors on nearly every page… while also laughing at jokes like:

"How are you going to make it move? It doesn't have a—" "Be very quiet," advised the duke, "for it goes without saying." And, sure enough, as soon as they were all quite still, [the wagon] began to move quickly through the streets.

A Child Called It by David Pelzer

Apparently this is a book that many people read in school, but it completely slipped by me until recently. I sat down to read it, opened it up, and didn't stop until two hours later when I had pummeled through the entire thing—something I hadn't done since I read the first Harry Potter book when I was eleven.

Even though this is an engrossing book, it's intense. The story is based on the author's real life, following him from age five to twelve, when he was horrifically abused by his mother. Just when you think it can't get worse, it does. Again. And again. And again. This is the only book I've ever read that had me physically cringing as I read through it.

The emotional severity of the book also makes for good outside research and discussions as well. Why was the mother abusive toward David and not his brothers? Why did the father do nothing to help? These are important questions that can set in motion a lot of great critical thinking.

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

I grew up in a very homogeneous neighborhood. Pretty much everyone was white, and I don't remember any openly gay students in school. So when I read Almost Perfect, it literally opened my eyes to a brand new world.

The story follows Logan, an average high school boy who falls head over heels for the new girl at school, Sage. But when he finds out that Sage was born a boy, suddenly he doesn't know what to do. Conflicting feelings, the judgment of others, and the stormy roads of healing a wounded friendship all come to a boil in this book.

What really sets this story apart for me is the fact that the "surprise" of Sage's reveal is not really a surprise: it's given away on the back cover, and it happens fairly early on. The meat of the story is the tumultuous reconciliation of the two characters, their growth, and learning more about the world. In our society where a need for acceptance and respect is at an all-time high, this book is even more important than ever.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman @nealshustermanreal

This book was my introduction to Neal Shusterman, one of my favorite dystopian authors. In Unwind, children's lives are deemed untouchable from birth to age thirteen, but from thirteen to eighteen, their parents/guardians can have them "unwound," a process that divides up all their body parts for others to use, and technically still keeps them alive.

What I love about this story is how it follows the points of view of three different characters, all facing the prospect of being unwound for different reasons: Connor, whose parents can't handle his misbehavior anymore; Risa, who is a ward of the state and will be unwound for budget reasons; and Lev, who is being unwound as part of a religious ceremony.

In our current society, where reproductive rights are being fought over yet again, seeing a possible outcome from such a battle is harrowing. This is another action-packed book that, while fun to read by itself, will also spark some great discussions.

Don’t forget to read Scott Wilson’s book, Metl: The ANGEL Weapon. Preferably read with a big, red summer moon outside your window!

[joyfulclouddreamland]

(Book Review) "A Child Called It" by David Pelzer

(Book Review) “A Child Called It” by David Pelzer

Good Sunday morning to all of you! I’m sorry for the silence again, I’ve been pretty ill and unable to concentrate on my tasks. However you’ll be happy to hear I finally was able to sit down and read so I have a review ready.

Title: A Child Called “It”

Author: David Pelzer

Genre: Biography, Non-Ficgtion, Autobiography

Synopsis:

This heart-wrenching tale takes us down one child’s struggle for…

[cscclibrary]

[Horizontal graphic; background yellow streaks on black. Black, blue, and orange text: “Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books of the Past Decade / ALA American Library Association.” Image courtesy of the American Library Association.]

In 2020, the American Library Association released a list of the 100 most frequently banned and challenged books from 2010-2019. Most of them are for children and young adults, or are commonly assigned in schools. They range from century-old classics to current popular novels. Some were challenged for predictable reasons--swearing, violence, or sex. Many were challenged because they contained LGBTQ+ content. Some were challenged because they critiqued social institutions.

All of them are available either in the Columbus State Library or via the OhioLINK system. Clicking on any of the titles below will tell you where you can find the book; OhioLINK items can be requested and sent to the Columbus State campus. In the case of a series, the link usually leads to the first title in the series. Enjoy your right to read!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Looking for Alaska by John Green

George by Alex Gino

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Bone (series) by Jeff Smith

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss

Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg

Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

It’s a Book by Lane Smith

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones

A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer

Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey

This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine

In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco

Lush by Natasha Friend

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Bible

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar

House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast

My Mom’s Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler

Neonomicon by Alan Moore

The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle

Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia

Fade by Lisa McMann

The Family Book by Todd Parr

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach

Habibi by Craig Thompson

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan

Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag

The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

1984 by George Orwell

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans

My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis

Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack

Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie

Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner

So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim

The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter

The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

[ncisfranchise-source]

KAI GOES UNDERCOVER AS A CHEF IN A LOCAL RESTAURANT TO GATHER INTEL ON A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL KINGPIN WITH A CONNECTION TO THE EATERY, ON “NCIS: HAWAI`I,” MONDAY, MARCH 14

“Monster” – Kai goes undercover as a chef in a local restaurant to gather intel on a notorious criminal kingpin who has a connection to the eatery. Also, Jane discovers that a school on the mainland has recruited Alex on a baseball scholarship, which he’s kept secret from his family, on the CBS Original series NCIS: HAWAI`I, Monday, March 14 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*.

REGULAR CAST:

Vanessa Lachey

(Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant)

Alex Tarrant

(Kai Holman)

Noah Mills

(Jesse Boone)

Yasmine Al-Bustami

(Lucy Tara)

Jason Antoon

(Ernie Malik)

Tori Anderson

(Kate Whistler)

Kian Talan

(Alex Tennant)

GUEST CAST:

Moses Goods

(Wally)

Anthony Ruivivar

(Daniel Tennant)

Ron Menzel

Andre Pelzer

Danny Hogan

Aaron Abrams

Kate Cobb

Johnny Cannizzaro

Brad Berryhil

Corey Rieger

Rafael Cabrera

David Bertin Greene

(Donovan Mance)

(Natchez)

(Saugus)

(Chris Polis)

(Jenny Alika)

(Ryan Delucci)

(Harvey Colms)

(Anders)

(Watts)

(Alonzo Descanso)

WRITTEN BY: Ron McGee

DIRECTED BY: Leslie Hope

[fakeboitherottengirl]

Is there actual evidence that Dave Pelzer faked his memoir or is his brother just making those claims because he was the one that was complacent in the abuse/favored by the mother (Scott/Stan depending on if you read David or Richard’s memoir)?  I know the grandparents also made a statement that the abuse didn’t occur but they likely could have been trying to cover their own ass for not stepping in.  I feel like Richard’s story confirms that the abuse DID happen but so many people on goodreads are saying it was faked, was there some JT Leroy/Million Little Pieces scandal around it that I missed?

[mrsomewhere]

Top 100 most banned and challenged books of the last decade:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Looking for Alaska by John Green

George by Alex Gino

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Bone (series) by Jeff Smith

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss

Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg

Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

It's Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

It's a Book by Lane Smith

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer

Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by Dav Pilkey

This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl by Tanya Lee Stone

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine

In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco

Lush by Natasha Friend

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Holy Bible

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar

House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast

My Mom's Having A Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler

Neonomicon by Alan Moore

The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle

Dreaming In Cuban by Cristina Garcia

Fade by Lisa McMann

The Family Book by Todd Parr

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach

Habibi by Craig Thompson

House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Jacob's New Dress by Sarah Hoffman

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan

Stuck in the Middle by Ariel Schrag

The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal

1984 by George Orwell

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher

Awakening by Kate Chopin

Burned by Ellen Hopkins

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesle´a Newman

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Madeline and the Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans

My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis

Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack

Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology by Amy Sonnie

Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner

So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim

The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter

The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S Brannen

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

[dillydedalus]

october reading

i finished my masters thesis this month (yay!) so while i still read quite a lot for escapism i was also operating on no more than 2 braincells at any time, and one of those braincells was just. continuously screaming. so any incoherence or whatever here is. because of that.

i am sovereign, nicola barker a fantastically weird & enjoyable novella about a house-viewing gone wrong that eventually blows up the novella form. i don’t want to give away the meta aspect too much, even tho it’s not entirely unpredictable, but it is so very entertaining and delightful to read. had such a fun time with this. also has a great cover. 4/5

the lifted veil, george eliot i’ve only read middlemarch by eliot, so a 75-page novella about the supernatural sure was... different. it’s fine, but nothing special imo. i enjoyed the first chapter, which sets up latimer, a soft young man with the gift of foresight/telepathy and his fascination with his brother’s fiancee, whose mind remains opaque to him (....twilight???), but the second half is pretty meh. 2/5

the notebooks of malte laurids brigge, rainer maria rilke (read the german obvi) loved the beginning of this, where morbid, too-intense, death-obsessed author-insert malte laurids brigge walks around paris, seeing everyone carry their death with them, which then makes him think of the deaths he has witnessed in his childhood. the parts about his childhood in a danish noble family were also good, but it really lost me with the overtly poetic, weird historical/religious stuff?? feel like this might have been a victim of termin master’s thesis like maybe that’s not the time for poetic, fragmentary, modernist-ish novels. 3/5

wie der soldat das grammofon repariert, saša stanišić (read in german, english translation by anthea bell) i really enjoyed stanišić‘s memoir herkunft last year so i went back to his 2006 classic, about a kid called aleksandar growing up in yugoslavia and eventually fleeing to germany as a refugee during the war. it’s very similar to herkunft in story, although the presentation is very different. honestly overall i found it a bit Too Much, too long & too stylised in its structure. but like, i can see why it’s so popular. 2.5/5

i capture the castle, dodie smith i really liked this! cassandra mortmain is a very strong narrator, the atmosphere of the dilapidated castle and the dysfunctional family are great, & i was surprised by the crushing poverty of the family in the beginning - cassandra obviously attempts to cover this up both in her own head & in her journal, but for much of the first half or so i was genuinely really worried for the kids - and this makes rose so much more sympathetic in her resolution to escape poverty. i was less convinced by the whole love quadrangle this book got going on, but on the whole this was very charming, but often very melancholy in a far deeper way than i expected. 4/5 

the death of vivek oji, akwaeke emezi my second emezi this year, altho sadly neither of them have lived up to the glory of freshwater. this one is about (gender) identity, grief, trauma, love, and solidarity/community based on otherness, which are similar thematically to freshwater, but in a novel that is, i would say, both more stylistically conventional and more hopeful/uplifting (altho it is still very depressing in parts). i enjoyed this on the whole, but it just doesn’t grab you by the throat the way freshwater does, and the reveal/central mystery just feels a bit lacking. 3/5

gott wohnt im wedding, regina scheer listen, this book is probably more competent & historically interesting than literarily great BUT it’s literally (literally) set around the corner from where i live, i know pretty much every single place & business mentioned in it & the house troubles are extremely relatable, if a lot worse than what i am currently experiencing. anyway. this novel is centered around a house in berlin-wedding & the people who live in it & it's about the holocaust & the porajmos, current discrimination against sinti&roma, the history of the wedding, gentrification, familial trauma & all that. it’s very interesting historically, slow but still very readable, and like.... i just really love the wedding! it’s kinda shitty & depressing but i love it!!! 4/5 the only good indians, stephen graham jones note: the elk in this book is not what you, a european, think of as an elk. that’s a moose. anyway, this is a horror novel about four native american men who hunt for elk when, where and how they shouldn’t have and ten years later find themselves pursued by a vengeful elk spirit. i enjoyed this! the scenes where shit goes down were certainly very horrible & gruesome & very sad as well. 3.5/5

solutions & other problems, allie brosh this book really is out there & exists. anyway hyperbole & a half was like, one of my formative internet things and i still love it a lot. this book is second only to the winds of winter in eternally getting pushed back and back and back, so this even getting published was def a pleasant surprise. it’s still really funny, and the weird ugly drawings are still amazingly effective, but this one is. very sad. some really bad shit happened to brosh inbetween and it’s kinda a downer (i mean the first one had the depression saga but this one... is darker). 3.5/5

a supposedly fun thing i’ll never do again, david foster wallace .....i might have to stan dfw, just a little bit. like, i read infinite jest when i was way too young to appreciate it (still traumatised by the uh. creative use of brooms tho) & i have NO intentions of ever rereading it BUT this essay collection was so good that i may just have to read a lot of his other stuff. particular highlights are the title essay, about a cruise journey, and an essay about the illinois state fair, two things that feel particularly fascinating and offputting in equal measure in this year of plague, where even the idea of being in enclosed spaces with many people freaks you out. but i also really appreciated his essays on david lynch & television & fiction, even if i don’t agree with all of his takes. he just has such a good voice! funny, smart, precisely observed but always with a strange spin. 4/5, minus points for too much tennis, but oh well

gruppenbild mit dame, heinrich böll (group portrait with lady) marcel reich-ranicki criticised this book for being, essentially, a sloppy mess and that’s kind of accurate - it’s definitely too long & a bit draggy & böll (and the narrator/“author”) go on tangents and into details with indulgence & abandon, but it’s also... kind of brilliant? the way the “author” collects material and testimony on leni (the lady), her family, coming-of-age and the love affair with a soviet forced labourer that made her an outcast, constructing a documented history of her while leni herself remains ever elusive, the focus on structure, architecture, construction, the endless loops of self-justification (pelzer’s insistance that he is not inhuman, the real estate tycoon’s insistence that they just want what’s best for leni & that her resistance to profit-logic is abnormal)... there’s so much in here, and a lot of it doesn’t need to be there, but a lot of it does. 3.5/5 

sweet fruit, sour land, rebecca ley very lyrical, quiet, feminist climate dystopia. it’s good, well-written, very evocative of hunger and loss, a dystopia but really more about grief and identity, and i read it during the last few days of my master’s thesis and thus have absolutely nothing to say about it. 3.5/5

i also & this will be a shock, dnf’d burning down the haus: punk rock, revolution & the fall of the berlin wall, a book about the east-berlin/german punk subculture. it just felt like a longform essay artificially extended into a 400-page book & the writing was pretty basic in a music bro tries to be deep and like, subversive and shit kinda way.