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).
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)
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