A TEENAGER'S JOURNEY
RICHARD B. PELZER
ISBN # 0-446-57970-X
May 2006
Time Warner Wellness
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Hardcover
$23.95
240 pages
Non-Fiction/ Life Stories
Rating: 4 Cups

Richard B. Pelzer survived years of horrific abuse by his own mother. She was an alcoholic and most likely mentally ill. After his older brother David was taken from their home, she turned her abusive tendencies towards Richard. This book chronicles his teenage years specifically.

A few people touched Richard’s life in ways that helped him mature into a self-sufficient adult. He discusses those individuals throughout the book. The difference they made in his life is one of the things that kept him from committing suicide. Without the Nichols family and a few others, he feels he would not have developed into the man he is today.

As a way to cope with the abuse he experienced, Richard turned to drugs and alcohol. His descent into a haze of substance abuse is described in detail, as well as how he managed to pull himself out of it and survive. The perils of peer pressure added to his problems. He makes that evident throughout the telling of his story.

A Teenager’s Journey is an utterly fascinating look at the effects of extreme child abuse. Richard’s brother David chronicled his own abusive childhood in the much-acclaimed A Child Called It. This book gives a look into what happened to those left with an abusive parent after David was taken away. I recommend this thought provoking book to anyone who works with abused children. It is an eye opener and will, hopefully, help keep other children from being victims of continual abuse.

Susan White
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance