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Loser by Jerry Spinelli
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Jerry Spinelli Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2003-08-01 ISBN: 0060540745 Number of pages: 224 Reading Level: Ages 9-12 Publisher: HarperCollins
Book Reviews of LoserBook Review: Awful, Just Awful Summary: 1 StarsThis has got to be the worst book I have ever read. I say this because throughout the entire depressing book, you are waiting for it to turn around and for this kid to become a non loser, to make a friend, to have something good happen and it just DOESN'T happen! It has an unsatisfying ending without any resolution to his sad sap life. Makes you wonder how come his family never got him any special help because he so needed it. It is such an awful book with such an unpleasant abrupt ending that I will never take the chance on reading another Spinelli book ever. I want my money back and if I could recapture the hours of my life that I wasted on reading it, I would want that back too!!
Summary of LoserJust like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip." Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become "hero." Donald Zinkoff is one of the greatest kids you could ever hope to meet. He laughs easily, he likes people, he loves school, he tries to rescue lost girls in blizzards, he talks to old ladies. The only problem is, he's a loser. Until fourth grade, Zinkoff's uncontrollable giggling in class, sloppy handwriting, horrible flute playing, bad grades, clumsiness, and ineptitude at sports go largely unnoticed. When he blows a race for his team, however, his transition to loserdom is complete: "[Loser] is the word. It is Zinkoff's new name. It is not in the roll book." Fortunately, he doesn't really notice. As he did in Stargirl, Newbery Medal-winning author Jerry Spinelli again explores the cruelty of a student body and how it does and doesn't affect one student, pure of spirit. Presumably if Loser makes one child view a "different kid" as a three-dimensional character, Spinelli will consider his book successful. The author recounts Zinkoff's story--a case study of sorts--in short sentences from a deliberately reportorial point of view, documenting the first years of the boy's life and his evolution into a loser. What makes the book charming and buoyant is that the reader, like Zinkoff's parents and his favorite teacher, appreciates the boy's oblivious joie de vivre and his divine quirks. What is less compelling about the novel is the "let this be a lesson to us" heavy-handedness that accompanies the reportorial approach. Still, Spinelli comes through again with a lively, often moving story with humor and heart to spare. (Ages 8 to 12) --Karin Snelson
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