Publishing: Harper Collins Publisher
Number of Pages: Soft Cover—224 pages
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: Ages 8-12
Summary: Donald Zinkoff is one of those children that really just has such a hard time fitting in. In first grade, Zinkoff is introduced to school. He loves it, even though he is always seated in the rear of the classroom because his teacher sits students alphabetically. Sadly, Zinkoff hits his low point in fifth grade, when his team does not want him to participate in that year's field day because of his horrible performance during last year's field day. Sixth grade is Zinkoff's first year of Middle School, where he meets again his friend from second grade, Andrew. All of Donald’s peers consider him to be a loser, but he's not; in fact, Zinkoff has a heart of gold. This is shown through his interactions with his parents and the lonely, elderly lady in his neighborhood, as well as the hours he spends looking for a little girl from his neighborhood who becomes lost in a snowstorm near the end of the book.
Zinkoff really loves when he is able to spend the day with his dad pretending to deliver mail. He also loves biking all over his neighborhood and checking on the waiting man. Donald Zinkoff constantly has positive attitude and he always tries to do his very best.
My Reaction to the Book: I really liked this book. I just thought that it was a really good book for anyone to read because it really tells the story of a this boy who can’t fit in and it is so good to see what kind of influence a teacher can have on a student. A great book for me especially because I want to be a teacher.
Potential Problems: The only problem that I see with this book is that Donald is kind of an outcast and this might be kind of hard for some kids to understand why none of the other kids are nice to him or they could be in the same situation themselves.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book to anyone. It is such a good, interesting story and it’s another one of those books that you don’t want to put down—you just want to keep reading it.
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