Loser (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Author | Jerry Spinelli |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 218 pp (first edition hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-06-000193-3 |
Loser is a coming-of-age novel by Jerry Spinelli. It centers around Donald Zinkoff, a boy who people mock because he is different.
[edit] Plot Summary
The book starts out as the reader is told how kids at a young age yearn for freedom by playing outside, eventually becoming more competitive. The author then says how there are kids who can't win and are looked down upon. It then forwards to the first day of kindergarten for a young boy named Donald Zinkoff, who has a birth defect which causes him to constantly vomit. He also seems autistic. He wears his favorite giraffe hat to school and has fun, oblivious to students' obvious dislike to him. But then the older students nearly destroy his hat, yet Zinkoff doesn't care and continues playing and treating them as friends.
Over the next few years the author discusses how he is constantly bullied and called a loser, thus annoying his teachers and family. Zinkoff strives to be friendly to others yet is oblivious to others mistreatments. One day during a field day relay race, he loses for the team so badly, he came no where winning. That was another sign to Zinkoff that he is a total loser. Everyone on his team who passed him said some variation of "loser" to him: '"Loser, Slow runner, Big loser etc."
Then, one day he goes with his father for a day through his work as a mailman. He then meets a little girl who befriends him and learns of the Waiting Man, a man who stares out of his window endlessly, waiting for his brother to come back from war. Zinkoff then reflects on his life and progresses through his life being mocked and more mistreated then ever.
After one snowy night, Zinkoff learns the girl he met years ago is missing. He goes and searches for hours into the morning. Hearing police sirens, he thinks that she is still missing. After passing out Zinkoff awakes later and is informed that the girl was found and that it was himself that people were looking for. He then meets all of the people that care about him and realizes that he did make friends over the years.
