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The Losers Club

"Alec didn't really want to be in a club either...and he really didn't want to start one.  To have to get an activity organized and then keep it going, day after day?  That sounded horrible.  Because right now, today?  All he wanted to do was read."


The Losers Club, by Andrew Clements, is the story of 6th grader Alec who wants nothing more than to hide away with a good book. But Alec's teachers, parents, and principal think he's spending a little too much time inside his books.  And the teachers in charge of the after school program want him to be more involved.  Determined to get his reading time in, Alec creates The Losers Club, a place where he can be left alone with his books after school.  When fellow 6th grader, Nina, joins the club Alec realizes that the world outside of his books can be pretty intense.

This was a really cute middle-grade read that I read out loud along with my 10-year-old son.  We both enjoyed it.  Alec is a likable and relatable character that is struggling with a lot of things kids that age are.  He wants to please his parents and teachers, he wants the kid who bullies him to leave him alone, he wants to make an identity for himself, and he wants to impress the smart, kind girl that he likes.  He also wants to hide in his books, something all of us readers can relate.  But as Alec's relationships with the people around him grow and change he starts to learn that there's also a lot of great stuff happening outside of a book.



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