The Losers Club by Andrew Clements

Alec and his younger brother have to spend time every day in an after school care program. In their school this is called Extended Day. His brother Luke goes to a different part of the program. Oh and I should mention at this point that mum and dad work in technology and they are both huge fans of Star Wars so we have Luke named after Luke Skywalker and Alec named after Alec Guinness who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the movie. Star Wars fans will love all the references to these cult films in the story.

Back to Alec. His passion is reading. He reads all the time. He reads at home, on weekend and in class. It is this last bit that has caused a huge problem. He has been sent to the school principal yet again - for reading in class. The Principal says Alec will have to attend a summer school and miss is family holiday if he cannot stop this habit. So that's the first challenge. Then he begins attending Extended Day and this seems like the perfect place to sit and read for a few hours but alas NO - the organiser Mrs Case gets on his case! Alec has to join an activity. Sport, Chess, Origami or the Homework club. Luckily Alex is a problem solver. He decides to begin his own club - and YES he names it The Losers Club. He tells Mrs Case it is a Book Club but in reality Alex just has a plan to read and read all afternoon every day. All he needs is one more club member and every one will be happy. 

Challenge number two. Alec's parents are sent a letter from the Principal about Summer School. There is no way they want to cancel their summer holiday plans so they tell Alec he can only keep attending his book club if he scores over 8 out of 10 for every subject from every teacher at the end of every week. Meanwhile, the Principal has organised for every teacher to allocate Alec a seat right in the front row and so now he has no choice. He has to pay attention and by doing that his grades improve and for a while the world is in a good balance because he can work through the day, achieve the scores demanded by his parents and then spend a few happy hours reading after school. 

One girl, Nina, joins his group and she is very happy to sit and read too, but things get complicated when the school bully, a boy named Kent, decides he likes Nina. He is a cool dude and a sport jock who is also a bully. At first Alec is sure Nina likes Kent but in reality she is far wiser than he could ever have guessed. And what about the other kids who want to join The Losers Club? Will Alec lose his peace and quiet? Oh and Mrs Case is pestering him about the end of term club presentation and Alec has NO idea what he will share with the audience of 500 parents and children. (The final scene will make all teachers and Teacher-Librarians SMILE).

Clements's latest is engaging and funny. Book lovers and reluctant readers alike will enjoy the relatable characters, realistic dialogue, and humorous scenes. School Library Journal

This will keep readers turning the pages, and along the way they will encounter a list of books that the characters like that they might be interested in picking up after they have finished The Loser's Club. Ms Yingling

Awards for The Losers Club:

• Winner of the Rhode Island Children's Book Award (2019)
• Winner of the International Reading Association and Children's Book Council: Children's Choices List (2018)
• Winner of the Garden State Children's Book Award (2020)
• 2021 Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee
• A Kansas William White Master List Selection (2018 & 2019)
• An Arkansas Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Nominee (2019)
• A California Young Reader Medal Nominee (2019)
• A Nebraska Golden Sower Award Nominee (2019)
• A Virginia Young Readers Program Award Nominee (2019)
• A Minnesota Maud Heart Lovelace Award Nominee (2019) 
• A Missouri Mark Twain Award Nominee (2019)
• An Oregon Reader’s Choice Award Nominee (2019)

The Losers Club was first published in 2017 but my copy is a 2021 paperback. Very strangely one of our big chain bookstores here in Sydney, Australia, has been culling their book stock. The price sticker shows me this book arrived in the store in May 2022 so I wonder why it only lasted twelve or thirteen months on their shelves? I am not a fan of the cover but I do think it would appeal to the intended audience as will catchy the title. The culling by the shop means that a AUS$17 book cost me AUS$5. So I am a winner.

My only two quibbles with The Losers Club were, firstly the way Alec and other members of the club spend a lot of time re-reading books they have already read. Do kids really do this? Alec has read Charlotte's web and Hatchet so many times - I found this a little hard to believe. Secondly, it is fabulous to see the book lists in the back of the book but I had a few issues with the Young Adult and even adult titles suggested. Putting that aside though, there are some wonderful books mentioned by Alec and other readers in his group such as Because of Winn Dixie; Bud not Buddy; Julie of the Wolves; Hatchet (it is easy to see why Colby Sharp loved this book Hatchet is his all time favourite book); A Long walk to Water; Sarah Plain and Tall; Shiloh; and Tuck Everlasting.

I am a HUGE Andrew Clements fan. Sadly he died in 2019.  I've read all of these. My favourites are Frindle, Extra Credit and The Landry News:

Frindle (1996)

The Landry News (1999)

The Janitor's Boy (2000)

The Jacket (2001)

The School Story (2001)

Week in the Woods (2002)

The Report Card (2004)

The Last Holiday Concert (2004)

Lunch Money (2005)

No Talking (2007)

Lost and Found (2008)

Extra Credit (2009)

Troublemaker (2011)

The Losers Club (2017)

The Friendship War (2019)

Andrew Clements 1949-2019

I arrived home today to find the March/April (2020) edition of the Horn Book Magazine in my letter box. Browsing through the magazine I discovered the truly sad news that one of my favourite US Middle Grade authors died at the end of last year.

"He wrote about children with lively imaginations who liked to challenge the status quo as well as the teachers who helped nurture their creativity and guide them towards making a positive impact. He had enormous respect for his audience, and never let them down, as is evident in the long-lasting popularity of his books and his numerous children’s choice awards." Amy Berkower in Publisher’s Weekly

Andrew Clements was the author of over eighty books - what an amazing output. Here is his first book published under the name Andrew Elborn.

I put my favourite book by Andrew Clements at the top of this page - Extra Credit.  Here are some books by Andrew Clements which I have talked about on this blog:

Frindle 

8.5 Million copies sold, 15 languages

Lost and Found

Trouble-Maker

I was surprised to see I had not talked about this next set of books - all of which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I was an avid collector of Andrew's books and my former school library boasted a large collection of his books. I do appreciate the cover art which is by US illustrators Brian Selznick, and Mark Elliott.

Here are three very new books by Andrew Clements which I need to add to my to read list.

I want to expecially mention The Jacket which is a very short book (96 pages) by Andrew Clements with a very powerful story. I often recommended it for reluctant readers in my senior classes.

Here is a recent interview with Andrew Clements where he talks about the writing process. His school stories come in a set with very detailed teachers notes.

Here are some picture books which were in the collection of my former library.

Frindle by Andrew Clements illustrated by Brian Selznick

There are some books that I talk to students and teachers about every year or perhaps even every week! One of these is Frindle. As I have now said goodbye to my school library for a whole year I am working my way along my own home library shelves and last night I picked up this old favourite.

Surprisingly I have only read this outstanding book once but my memories of the teacher, the classroom, Nick the hero and of course the heartwarming ending have are still so vivid even after fifteen years.

Chapter two opens with the ominous words “Fifth grade was different. That was the year to get ready for middle school. Fifth grade meant passing classes. It meant no morning recess. It meant real letter grades on your report cards. But most of all it meant Mrs. Granger.”

Let’s begin with Mrs Granger. Just like my third grade teacher, Mrs Granger has two outfits – one is gray, one is blue. She never wears pants and even when the weather is extreme she does not sweat but it is her eyes that I especially love. “She was small as teachers go… but Mrs. Granger seemed like a giant. It was her eyes that did it. They were dark grey, and if she turned them on full power, they could make you feel like a speck of dust.”

Andrew Clements clearly loves Mrs. Granger and when he describes her reactions to the ‘war’ between this special teacher and Nick, it is her eyes that give the reader a real insight into what might unfold.

Mrs. Granger is a huge fan of the dictionary. Not as a book but as a place to expand our knowledge of words. As is often the way with my reading this has a link with my real life. Over the Summer I clipped a newspaper column about words from the Sydney Morning Herald by David Astle. He challenges his readers to gain a word each week (Oxford or Wordsmith).

When Nick tries to distract Mrs. Granger by asking where do all the words come from, he does not expect to land himself a homework assignment. He does manage to sidetrack the next lesson with his oral presentation but this is just the beginning of the battle. Nick is an ideas person and this idea seems brilliant. Invent a new word. The new word is Frindle. It is not in the dictionary (yet!) and so Nick finds himself going head to head with the formidable Mrs. Granger but along the way he will learn quite a lot about himself, discover new loyalties including the loyalty of his parents, gain a better understanding of the power of words, and he will even begin to realize the news media can have a huge impact on our lives.

If you have been reading my blog you will know I am a huge fan of Andrew Clements. One more coincidence. I saw the movie Hugo based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret last week – the author/illustrator Brian Selznick did the art work in Frindle – I like connections like this. It is also quite odd and yet very exciting to discover Frindle warrants its own entry in Wikipedia. I will admit that when I finished reading Frindle last night I almost reached for my newest dictionary just to see if it contained this memorable word!

Trouble-Maker by Andrew Clements

There is always a wonderful sense of anticipation when a new Andrew Clements title arrives in our library. If you have been following my blog then you might have read my review of Extra Credit for example.

Trouble-maker is not quite at the level of Frindle, Extra Credit or The Landry News but it is nevertheless a good read. If you have read The Janitors boy then you have met a character like Clay who is the central character in this newest book. Clay cannot help creating mischief. He rumbles with his friends, sabotages his classmates, starts food fights in the cafeteria and regularly challenges authority figures especially the school Principal Mr Kelling. Here is a good example of Clay’s strategies when the class have a substitute teacher.

“The woman looked like she as about seventeen. She was all nervous and chatty, trying to be way too friendly with the kids. It would have been so much fun to mess with her head – maybe act like he only spoke Russian … or maybe he could start crying and tell her how his pet skunk died yesterday … or maybe pretend he was allergic to her makeup, see if he could get her to scrub all of it off her face. He could riff and goof and tumble her head around until she ran screaming out of the room … like some other subs had.”

The turning point for Clay comes when his brother Mitch arrives home after a short stint in jail. For Clay, Mitch is his hero. Clay thinks Mitch will be impressed and proud of his school mischief but the reverse is true. Mitchell’s experience in jail has been profound. He is determined his younger brother will never go to jail. Mitch makes Clay promise to reform. He organizes a new tidy hair cut and new school clothes for Clay and makes sure Clay is not out late with his friends.

This is all fine until Halloween. The home of the school Principal is vandalized and everything points to Clay.

This is a very short book but it shows the power of our thoughts and the power of an individual to change his or her outlook on life and relationships with others. I think middle Primary boys in particular would enjoy Trouble-Maker by Andrew Clements. You might also enjoy Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip, The Janitors Boy or Small steps by Louis Sachar (read Holes first). Slightly older students might also take a look at Wringer by Louis Sacher.

One final thing I loved the character of the school secretary Mrs Ormin – she is perfect!

Here are some discussion questions, an audio file and a good review if you need to read more about this book!

Lost and Found by Andrew Clements

Following our very busy Book Week celebrations (we had daily thinking challenges, songs, lunch time craft days and more) I was very happy to just sit and read for an hour or so this morning and what better book to relax with than another title from master storyteller Andrew Clements.

I noticed a great quote on the front cover of this book - "'That could totally happen at my school' Fiction".... I think this will become a new subject heading or tag perhaps for my reading.

Twins have always fascinated me. I am not a twin but I was good friends with two sets of twins as a young child. One set of twins were totally different in every way - looks, interests, physical size and temperament. The other set of twins were so alike - two girls who did look almost the same and who had the same interests etc. although I could always tell them apart.

As a teacher I often find identical twins can be a challenge. Since I usually only see these students for a short time once a week it can take me years to confidently separate them. Teachers and other adults who constantly say - "which twin are you" must drive these kids crazy and that in fact is the premise of this little book by Andrew Clements and I was also interested to read Andrew Clements has twin sons. This might be why his insights into the issues of being a twin seem so authentic.

I will not say this is the best Clements book I have read - that would be Frindle followed by The Janitors Boy and Extra Credit - but Lost and Found is easy to read and as usual Clements seems to get right inside the head of Grade 5 and 6 students.

Jay and Ray discover the school has muddled up their records from the previous school and that only one student is enrolled. This opens the way for the boys to experience school as an individual and not as a twin. They take alternate days off but of course this must end in disaster!

You can read a little more of the plot here or just grab this book for a quick and enjoyable read!

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

Andrew Clements is one of my all time most favourite favourite favourite authors so when a new Andrew Clements book arrived in my school library this week I just had to clear the decks and read read read…

Extra Credit certainly did not disappoint me, is, quite simply, a terrific book. Once again Andrew Clements really gets inside the world of the senior primary student. Abby is a capable girl but she is just not interested in school tasks. “She was a decent reader, she was okay at math and she was plenty smart. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do the work. She just didn’t like doing it. And most of the time, she didn’t see the point.”

Extra Credit is one of those books where the voices and setting alternate, in this case between Abby in Illinois and Sadeed in a small village in Afghanistan. Abby has to do extra credit to prevent having to repeat Sixth Grade and this involves a project based around pen pal letters. She selects Afghanistan because there are mountains shown on the map and Abby is a climber. There are no mountains in her part of Illinois so she has taken up wall climbing in the gym at her school. She absolutely loves wall climbing.

Sadeed is selected to write back to Abby because he is the best English student in his school and he has neat handwriting but it is inappropriate for a boy to write to a girl so Sadeed has to involve his sister in the letter writing and it is Amira who signs the letters not knowing that Sadeed has added information, questions and comments of his own.

All of this comes to a head when Sadeed is coming home from school one day and he is grabbed by a dangerous man who recognizes the stamps on his letter from America. “he let go of Sadeed’s arm, quickly ripped the letter once, then twice again, and threw the pieces to the ground.” Sadeed does manage to piece the letter back together but now what will he do – letter writing has become dangerous, forbidden.

My advice is don’t leave Primary School without reading at least one book by Andrew Clements – you won’t be disappointed. My personal favourites are Frindle, The Laundry News, The Janitors Boy and The Last Holiday concert. These books will be loved equally by boys and girls. Take a few minutes to check out his web site it is great and there is a video of Andrew talking about his newest book. He looks like such a warm person wouldn't it be great to meet him.

I would also heartily recommend Andrew Clements to all teachers. You can easily tell Andrew Clements is or was a teacher - "After a day or two, even a really interesting bulletin board turns into wall paper, and almost nobody sees it anymore." This is so true.