Loser by Jerry Spinelli

As you all know I am a big Jerry Spinelli fan. I love how quirky his characters are and how I find myself relating to them so easily. Although I am reading him as part of my projects for this course, they are more fun than they are work! I finished Loser by Jerry Spinelli this week and absolutely loved it. It was an extra special read because this is Mikey's all time favorite book. He has begged me to read it for years and I just never got around to it. Now I am trying to avoid him before he wants to talk about the book in depth.

Although I have not read Stargirl yet, I remember how unique and confident you all said she was in your blog posts and during our class discussion. As I read, I found myself thinking the same about Zinkoff. He could probably be Stargirl's little brother. He is so enthusiastic about life, is genuinely kind, and does not hold anything back. I feel like he is someone I should aspire to be like because he is just so self-assured and positive.

In the beginning of the book, Zinkoff is just starting school and he is very excited. On the first day, he runs into school wearing a giraffe hat. I pictured him wearing the hat all proud and ready to learn. But I also knew from that very moment, that he was going to have a hard time being accepted by his peers. This part also made me think about my own first day of school. Although I did not have a giraffe hat, I did have a bright red one hundred and one dalmatians dress, a matching bow in my hair, and a dalmatian print coat. On top of that, I snuck in my favorite dalmatian toys in my dalmatian backpack. It's safe to say I really liked the movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians. However, I never thought about how interesting I looked or what my teacher thought of me when I walked into class. I'm sure she and my classmates were a little surprised by my outfit and obsession.

I'm really excited for you all to read this book! I hope that you will like it as much as I do :)