Loser by: Jerry Spinelli

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins

Copyright Date: 2003

Number of Pages: 224

Reading Level: 9-12

Summary:

This book is about a boy named Donald Zinkoff who is a good kid. He laughs easily (at everything) he loves school, he doesn't care what people think about him, he wants to please everyone but does things because he likes to not because he has to. He also is a little strange. His handwriting never improves from kindergarten on, he has a stomach problem that makes him spontaneously throw up, he laughs so hard that he falls out of his seat.... He is always the kids that makes his peers laugh. Then fourth grade rolls around. Zinkoff has always been there, since kindergarten, but now he is noticed. Kids nickname him "loser" and so that is what he is called. He is now seen as the weird kid who is horrible at sports, fails at school, can't play any instrument and is annoying. Zinkoff doesn't notice though! He lets things roll off of him and he still likes everyone. He goes through a couple people who he thinks are his best friends but only the reader realizes that those people are really trying to avoid him. Zinkoff doesn't understand this behavior but he finds other friends to be with. At one point when he was younger, his dad took him with him on his mailman route - that's his dad's job. His dad let Zinkoff deliver papers to a whole street by himself. During that process, he discovers the waiting man, a man who is always standing at his window waiting for his brother who was lost at war 30 years before to return home. For years following, Zinkoff always rides his bike past the waiting man's house see him. He also met a mother who keeps her daughter on a leash and he stops by there house from time to time over the coming years.

So, Zinkoff is considered a loser by everyone a school. Especially when field day comes in the 4th grade. He is excited for field day just like everybody else. The teachers split all of their classes into four teams and Zinkoff gets put on a team with the most competetive boy in school. this kid is determined to win. In the final race the teacher put Zinkoff as the anchor... when it was his turn to run in the relay his team had run so well that they were way ahead of everyone... then Zinkoff started running. He was so slow that every other team passed him and was finished long before he made it to the finish line. After that, Zinkoff was hated. Other than that day, he didn't let it affect him. He lived life as happy as can be. Fifth grade went the same way as fourth. Nobody liked him still. When field day came around this year, he was placed on a team but that team kicked him off... he tried to find another team to play on but no body wanted him. He skipped school that day. The first time in his whole elementary school years.

He played in the band at his fifth grade graduation and he cried to think that elementary school was over for him. His family (who always supported him) was there to cheer for him as he walked across the stage. Then summer started, and ha did what every normal kids does. He played, swam, slept, rode his bike, ate, teased his sister.. then sixth grade began.

The book ends with him in the sixth grade. Winter is coming and the snow starts falling while everyone is at school. They are all excited because for them, usually the first snow fall means a snow day the next day. Zinkoff participates in an on going snowball fight on the streets of his town. When he comes to the street that the little girl with the leash lives on, there are police cars and ambulences and everything flashing their lights. He found out that the little girl was lost! He cared so much for her that he went out looking for her. This part of the book was jumbled up because he was in and out of sanity and consciousness. Somehow it went from him searching for her to him passing out in the snow and blindly walking around the streets of town searching. He had no idea how much time had passed but while the little girl was found in under an hour, the search was on for zinkoff. He wasn't found until 2 in the morning. All for the little girl.

A while later at school during gym, kids were picknig their teams for basketball, and as usual Zinkoff wasn't picked at all. But, there was one kid who knew that he had gone searchnig for the girl, and while he thought Zinkoff was a weirdo not worth his time, he was so curious as to why a kid would go searching for a little girl at the possible detriment of himself that he picked him to be on his team. The End.

Who would benefit from reading this book/who would I recommend this book to?

This book is a lot like stargirl, in that it presents a misunderstood person in a different light than what people would normally view them. It is a good book for students who are entering middle school to read and discuss. It is important for kids who are not bullied or picked on to know what it is like to be the outsider. It is also important to teach the kids who are bullied and picked on to stick it through. It is important to be yourself no matter what is said about you, because that is the only way that you will be happy.

What problems/conflicts could this book potentially cause?

kids call him names and laugh at him and some kids who read this could find it funny that people are picking on him so much, so those are the kids to be aware of when they are reading it so that you can discuss with them how people feel when mean things are said about them.

My reaction:

I thought it was ok. I think that Jerry Sinelli is an excellent author but this wasn't one of my favorite books. I can't exactly explain why. Maybe it is because there is no climax. It just goes through Zinkoffs elementary and early middle school years but that is all. The part that he got lost in the snow while trying to find the little girl was really strange. I had no idea what was going on. It had a great message but when I compare this book with Stargirl, which has the same message, Startgirl is definately better. Although Zinkoff is more real than Stargirl was so that is a plus. I think that everyone knows a Zinkoff while only a few people have met true Stargirls before.