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Written by Jerry Spinelli

Published by Harper Collins/Joana Colter

Available in many formats such as hardcover, paperback, eBook, audio book, and Amazon.

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"Loser" is an amazing story about an awkward, kind-hearted child named Donald Zinkoff, who struggles to fit in with his peers. This book highlights Donald's time in elementary school (grades one through five) and one of his years in middle school (sixth grade). Even though Donald is labeled as a "loser" by his peers, Donald does not let this define who he is throughout the story, as he stays true to himself and is still kind to others around him. Not only does this book highlight Donald's time through elementary and into junior high, but it also highlights how important it is to be kind to others, being unique, and most importantly, staying true to oneself.

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Donald Zinkoff is a socially awkward and a very kind individual who loves school and is always very excited about everything, no matter the situation.

Many people only refer to him as Zinkoff, and Zinkoff lives in his own world. Many things that would bother other people do not bother Zinkoff, such as teasing and bullying.

Zinkoff loves to laugh and laughs at the most random things, even if it is a word from a week ago. Zinkoff also has a condition where he throws up when provoked, until he has a surgery to get it fixed, then instead of throwing up, he burps.

Zinkoff loved school from the moment he stepped foot in the classroom in first grade to the end of sixth grade, and when he grows up, he wants to be a mailman just like his father.

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Mr. Zinkoff is Donald's father. Mr. Zinkoff works as a mailman for the city, which is a huge job for Donald - he finds being a mailman is the noblest, as well as heroic, profession there is.

Mr. Zinkoff is a great father, and he embraces Donald's awkwardness, as well as always makes him laugh with the funny words that he makes up.

He is not just known for being a mailman but also for his clunkers. Mr. Zinkoff drives around old beat-up cars that his family refers to as clunkers. Throughout the story, he goes through eight different clunkers, just one after the other.

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Mrs. Zinkoff is Donald's mother; she is a stay-at-home mom for most of the book, and as Donald gets older, she becomes a telemarketer.

Mrs. Zinkoff is always so supportive of Donald and always encourages her son to try new things.

She is a great mother to Donald and always shows her love by embracing his laughing spells and constantly loving on him.

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Polly is Donald's little sister and is his pride and joy - he always plays with Polly for hours on end throughout the story.

Polly is known for setting Donald straight whenever he is acting silly or laughing too much.

Another thing that she is known for is Donald's graduation. At Donald's graduation, nobody cheered except for Polly and his parents, but Polly yelled "Go Donald" over the whole crowd because of how proud she was of her big brother.

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Claudia is a little girl who lives on Willow Street, which is a place in the neighborhood that Donald likes to visit on his bike.

Claudia is always on the road waiting for Donald with some sort of gift for him, and the main one is a piece of hardened gum that Donald keeps in his pocket to rub for good luck.

She is held by a leash from which her mother puts on her, so she does not run away. However, later in the story, she escapes the leash, and a whole city search is conducted to find her, including Donald.

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This book's overall setting is a small suburban town, but the main three settings are Donald's elementary school and Satterfield Elementary, which is right down the road from Donald's house. Another place where a lot of the story takes place is Donald's house, where he is couped up after his surgery, which is no fun for Donald, and has to make up things to do. Lastly, another place where the story takes place is the neighborhood allies and streets where Donald plays throughout the story. This is where Donald rides his bike as well as meets Claudia. The allies are where Donald looks for Claudia whenever she is missing as well as plays and entertains himself.

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Rising Action - The rising action of this book is when Donald makes his way through elementary school, where he struggles when it comes to grades and his peers notice him as different. A big part of the rising action comes on field day in fourth grade, where Donald is put as the anchor in a big relay race, and despite his team having a commanding lead, Donald loses the race. After this, he is labeled as a "loser" by his peers. On top of this, Donald struggles to make friends because of his social awkwardness, so he is often ignored and made fun of.

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Climax - The climax of this book comes when Claudia goes missing. When Claudia goes missing, Donald decides that he is going to help find her. To try to find her, he ventures out on his own during a blizzard/ice storm, and despite the weather conditions, Donald is determined to find her through the storm. Donald did not know that Claudia had already been found an hour after she went missing, so he is searching for her for seven hours - eventually the storm takes a physical toll on Donald, and now he is the one that is missing. He eventually pushes himself to the limit and does not know where he is and is just wandering about the streets and allies looking for Claudia.

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Falling Action - The falling action in this book occurs when Donald is finally found by a road grader man out plowing snow from the storm. Donald is then returned home by the police and sleeps for thirteen hours. Eventually, Donald is able to go back to school, where his classmates still see him as different. They begin to talk about what he did in the snowstorm to find Claudia instead of talking about his flaws and awkwardness. His kindness begins to help him find a place to fit in, especially when one of his classmates, Andrew, who is a big-time athlete, makes it a point to highlight how kind he is to others. This is where Donald begins to feel accepted within the structure of school and in life.

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I have a couple of key takeaways from this book. The first one is that kindness is really overlooked sometimes throughout life because, throughout this story, all Donald was kind to people in school and his life. His kindness was finally recognized at the end of the book, but people's kindness can definitely be overlooked, in my opinion, and that is shown very clearly in this book. Another key takeaway that I got from this book is that we can all be a little more like Donald Zinkoff, and what I mean by that is not letting what other people say or do affect who we are or what we want to accomplish. Donald did not have good grades nor was athletic, but he did not let his peers defy who he was as an individual!