Loser, by Jerry Spinelli, is about a young boy named Zinkoff who never seems to win or have anything good happen to him. But Zinkoff is different from other kids. He believes in himself and never gives up, even when times get the worst. Zinkoff is picked on and bullied a lot because of his good nature. He doesn’t blame anyone or even realize that they’re making fun of him. Everyone else sees him as a loser, or a nobody. Zinkoff has lots of interesting things happen to him, which is what this book is all about. It is a very different book than anything I’ve ever read.
I really like Jerry Spinell’s writing style. At some times it seems almost like a poem, his words flow so well together. Certain points in the book made me stop and think because he was addressing a much bigger problem than what was actually happening in the book. When he was talking at the beginning about winning and losing, I was really sucked in and wanted to read more because he made it seem like the world was so simple to Zinkoff. As Zinkoff grew up, the writing got more mature and the ideas that Spinelli expressed were more mature also. It made the book make sense and made it easier to relate to Zinkoff’s predicament.
I wish that this book could have had more of a climax or plot. It kind of seems like there is no point up until Claudia goes missing, even though I know every event had a meaning to giving Zinkoff character, to him becoming who he is in the end. Every event is almost a plot in itself, like Field Day and Bring Zinkoff To Work Day. The events happen, but are never mentioned again. If Spinelli had brought them up again, they would have had more importance and impact on Zinkoff’s life.
Another thing that i liked was Spinelli’s characters. They were all developed very well throughout the book, which made it easy to relate to them and realize why they acted the way they did. But I do wish he had told more about the “Waiting Man.” It seemed like Spinelli wanted it to stay a mystery,
I would recommend this book to anyone over 10 who knows what it’s like to be in school and not know what everyone else wants from them. This book would make the most sense to them because they would understand Zinkoff and why he does the things he does. Overall this was a good book which would make sense to a lot of people.