Loser

Just 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."

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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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Create Your Own Review, 2008-04-03
Jentz Z. review of Loser by Jerry Spinelli, March 19, 2008.
Donald Zinkoff is a kid who never fit in. Growing up for him was hard, he was teased and bullied. He grew up in the suburbs all his life. Donald has an internal conflict. Ever sense fifth grade he had the nickname loser. The only people he ever connected with were his dad and a girl named Claudia. Near the end of the book Claudia was lost and found shortly after but Donald didn't know and spent hours and hours looking for her. So when Donald was found everyone loved him because he was looking for a girl that had already been found. From then on everyone started calling Donald, Zinkoff, and they loved him again.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

KCS- class loser., 2007-12-12
Have you ever felt as if you were the loser of your class? Everyone in his class thinks of Donald Zinkoff is the loser of there class, but Donald is oblivious to the names he is called. Donald Zinkoff is clumsy,awkward,asks too many questions,laughs too much,and not quite the same as the others in his class. The story takes place in a town from when Donald is in first grade until he is in fifth grade

Its the first day of first grade and Donald loves it. He loves school in general. Everyday is an adventure and he hates being bored. In fourth grade Donald is in the same team as the most athletic kid in class for field day. Their team is in first until Donald messes up and there team loses. By then, everyone seems to notice that he is not like others in the class. People begin to whisper about him and call him names behind his back, but Zinkoff doesn't seem to notice. Donald has never had a best friend, but he is content with himself.

I think that the theme of the book is that everyone deserves a second chance and that you should accept everyone even if they are a little different. Jerry Spinelli writes in a way that really describes how the main characters are feeling. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5. The book was good, but there was no climax in the book, and some might find it a little boring. The pacing is slow to medium throughout the book. I would recommend this book to middle school students and those who like realistic fiction and don't mind slow paced books.




1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Cornwall Middle School, 2007-05-21
I liked this book called Loser. It was about this kid that never really fit in, and threw out his life from when he was a baby to 6th grade. The characters seemed a little more realistic then the other books i have read. I liked the plot, but i thought they could of done a better job with were it took place and a couple other things. I thought there were some parts that I couldnt wait to find out what happened next. I would recomended this book to anyone that likes funny, good books. I enjoyed reading this book and there were alot of funny parts to it. This is deffinatly a book that they could have a sequeal, like when he starts 7th grade and gets a girlfriend of something.


AS


2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

a must read for anyone who is, was, or will be a child, 2007-05-05
Jerry Spinelli is probably the greatest young adult novelist (yes, novelist) for a very good reason. Not only are his books incredibly human and powerful, capturing those illusive essential truths of childhood and adolescence, but they are written in an incredible (yet accessible) modernist, lyrical, and, well--beautiful--prose that captures all the emotions, wonders, and confusions of childhood. His stories seem familiar, and yet they never fall into the trappings of predictability or neatly convenient packaging. In all of these ways, he writes novels that really are good for children of every age (from 0 to 118). In Loser, Zinkoff is one of those off-center kids (another Spinelli gem), messy and silly, a klutz and a joke, gets everything wrong and loses every race. And yet, he is an incredibly happy, innocent, and deeply loving creature. The book is really a character study of this kid, how the world views him, how he views the world. As such, it is incredibly beautiful and poetic, dreamy and childlike. It's an incredible novel, for any age. Grade: A-



1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Loser Left Much To Be Desired, 2007-03-23
Loser by Jerry Spinelli could have been an interesting and overall good book but, in my opinion it was not because it was rushed and undeveloped. The book chronicles the life of Donald Zinkoff from his first day of kindergarten to his last day of eighth grade in a mere two hundred pages. Thus no grade is well developed and neither is any character but the loveable loser and main character Donald Zinkoff. This book was attempting to give a good message about the life through school of a loser. Because it is hard to go through your time in school with out true friends or any real interests to speak of let alone to be unatheletic on top of it. But although the message was no doubt an outstanding one, it left much to be desired as a whole.

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