"A Child Called It", an autobiographical book, chronicles Pelzer's harrowing experience of child abuse. His follow-up book to that one was "The Lost Boy" and concerned his life in foster homes. Dave Pelzer willed himself to overcome the worst life had to offer (his case of child abuse was one of the worst recorded cases in US history) and became the best he could be. "Help Yourself" weaves in stories from Pelzer's own experiences with the principles he has discovered on how to survive difficulty.