Loser

Jerry Spinelli

Characters:

Donald Zinkoff-He loves school wants to be a mailman when he grows up for example, he wrote one hundred letters to all the people on his street to get to know what it will be like.Also, he gets bullied by other kids. He doesn't listen to his mom. For example, on the first day of school she told him to wait for her but, he didn't and started running down the sidewalk.

Donald's mom- Gives Donald and Polly silver stars when they did something right. Was worried about Donald when he went missing.

Polly- Is Donald's little sister. She loves to play in dirt and water. Also, bugs and messes with Donald.

Donald's dad- Is a mailman. Feels bad for Donald ; made a day for Donald. Looked for Donald when he went missing until he found him.

Setting:

The setting is in the city, their neighborhood and at his school Satterfield elememntry and Monroe Middle School.

Plot:

In the beggining of the book Donald Zinkoff was always at school an hour before it started, even before the teachers were there. But, when school started a boy named Andrew moved in and became his friend. After a while Andrew moved away and Zinkoff was low. He had no friends. People started calling him "Loser" and other names. Donalds dad couldn't take Donald to take your child to work day, so they made a Donalds day when all they did was deliver letters to houses. During this, Donald made a friend and her name was Claudia. One day when Claudia went missing he looked for her until three o'clock in the morning. He was so cold but he kept looking for her. He passed out and woke up in his mom and dad's bed. When he woke up in his home it was brought to his attention that Claudia had been found. Eventhough he was trying to do a good deed for Claudia, he put his own life in danger. He was greatful that his father had found him and brought him home. When Zinkoff was least expecting a surprise his old best friend Andrew had moved back. In the end, Zinkoff finally got chosen to play on a team that all the kids tht called him names

Point of View:

The point of view in the book Loser is third person limited. We know this because the key words of third perosn limited are; He, him, his.

Also the definition of the third person limited is that the narrator tells the thoughts of the main character. In the book one page 98 in stated "Zinkoff isn't sure if his teachers remark is a statement or a question." This is the narrator speaking Zinkoff's thoughts.

Theme:

The theme of the book loser is related to the saying " don't judge a book by it's cover." We think this because everyone was judging Zinkoff by his looks and actions. This theme is importent to kids that are treated the same way as him. For example, on page 106 it stated " You stink at everything, why do you ever get out of bed in the morning?" This shows that at field day when zinkoff lost the race everyone was mean to him. Also, on page 218 it stated " he points and says it "Zinkhoff" and the game begins." This proves that in the end of the book Zinkhoff finally got picked to play the game. That all the mean kids that called him loser are now like him as a friend. This shows that the theme of the book Loser is don't judge a book by it's cover because Zinkoff was judged and misunderstood, and now he is liked by the people that were calling him names.