Quirky Reads: Loser by Jerry Spinelli

Rachie's Musings on: Loser by Jerry Spinelli


Loser follows the story of Zinkoff, or Donald Zinkoff as he is known to his parents and teachers.

 The book follows Zinkoff through elementary/primary school and reminds us what it’s like to see the world through the eyes of a child.

Zinkoff loves school, for the most part he loves his teachers and he loves life.   You could easy assume that this book is designed for a young audience, it has a teen friendly cover and it follows the life of a school child, but it can also give us ‘adults’ a bit of a kick up the backside!!

Zinkoff has that same enthusiasm for life and fire in his belly that everyone is born with, where absolutely everything is a fun new discovery and it’s the most awesome thing ever.  
As we grow up, life beats that out of us a little bit, we lose the sparkle and we become grown ups.

While following Zinkoff through his story, I could almost see the sparkle starting to fade from him, although it never left him completely.  Zinkoff grew up like kids do, but while the other kids became ‘grown up kids’ and adapted to all the attitudes and etiquettes that come with getting a bit older and keeping up with everyone – Zinkoff stood out by holding on to the little eccentricities that make him Zinkoff.

I really enjoyed Loser, it’s not a long read, but it’s a damn good one and it’s encouraged me to try and make sure I keep the sparkle in my life :-)