RHCB BLOG TOUR: The Losers Club by Andrew Clements

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're playing host to a stop along the Random House Children's Books tour featuring the latest from the one and only, Andrew Clements!  Whether you've read his work (me...now), or simply heard of it (formerly me), you recognize it...and there's a good reason for that, let me tell you.  The title in the spotlight today celebrated its birthday August 1st and has been steadily making its way throughout the blogosphere with all sorts of witty, wordy, wonderful posts (seek them out for MORE fun!)...and I'm here to add another name to the list of adoring fans.  My own.  So, if all of the bookworms, book dragons, book insert-here-your-favorite-title-for-now, would be so kind as to join me, we're about to add book to your must read list.  Today's title on deck is...

The Losers Club

by

Andrew Clements

9780399557552

Random House Children's Books for Young Readers

About the book...

The beloved New York Times bestselling author of the modern classic Frindle celebrates books and the joy of reading with a new school story to love!

 

Sixth grader Alec can’t put a good book down.

 

So when Principal Vance lays down the law—pay attention in class, or else—Alec takes action. He can’t lose all his reading time, so he starts a club. A club he intends to be the only member of. After all, reading isn’t a team sport, and no one would want to join something called the Losers Club, right? But as more and more kids find their way to Alec’s club—including his ex-friend turned bully and the girl Alec is maybe starting to like—Alec notices something. Real life might be messier than his favorite books, but it’s just as interesting.

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I'm absolutely in love with this book! Call me a "loser" any day!

While the title may confuse or concern some, if you're a true book lover, it is one to add to that "will always cherish" list that you keep in your back pocket.  Oh don't deny it...you know you have one.  For me, it includes such titles as Dash & Lilly's Book of Dares, Words in Deep Blue, and several dozen others, and while the genres or target age groups may vary, they have one BIG thing in common....a true understanding and celebration of the joys that reading brings.  You know that feeling too...

You crack open a book, carefully since we don't necessarily want to crease the spine, or perhaps you're a book bender, in which case it matters not.  You read the first sentence and BOOM, there you are next to King Arthur's knights, arm in arm in battle...BAM, you're standing next to Katniss as you're told to be hopeful about odds being in your favor...KABOOM, you're helping Harry and friends free Buckbeak from a fate he doesn't deserve...SHAZAAM, you're following your favorite character through some emotionally charged situation that could easily happen in your own day to day life, learning and loving at the same time...and with the turn of the last page, you're back in your favorite reading spot, no worse for wear physically, but oh so changed just the same.  Books are like that, providing a portal to another world, another way of thinking, seeing, an escape from the everyday.  It's the beauty of books, and the joys of reading that every bookworm knows...but what happens when that's the ONLY life we live?

That lesson among many others is something our leading lad Alec discovers during his sixth grade experience.  He's a kid after my own heart with his adoration of reading and I've no doubt we'd have been great friends.  I had to laugh (just a little) when he was sent to the Principal's office...for READING!  I know, I know, it was a serious offense because of the when and where, but really, it was still giggle inducing considering the myriad of things he could have been doing versus was.  When he thought he found a safe haven for his habit during the Extended Day Program, I couldn't help but smile, but then that smile faded when it all seemed to be slipping through his fingers once again.  It took the making of some unexpected friends beyond the pages to build up his character, his confidence, and have him taking a stand for all book worms, dragons, and hawks alike!

It truly is a celebration of reading... all the feels, the adventures, the lessons, the characters, the EVERYTHING... but also, so much more. It reminds us that there's a reader in all of us, if only we find the right selection... but also that life was meant for living, so excluding those experiences entirely for the stacks, though heavenly, won't serve us as well as finding our balance.  Oh and for those still concerned over the title, it's all explained in a creative way that makes PERFECT sense by book's end, and let me tell you the presentation that goes with it, LOVE IT!

In closing, I only have one thing to add... Bookhawks FTW!

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About the author...

Andrew Clements is the New York Times bestselling author of the beloved modern classic Frindle,which has sold over six million copies, won nineteen state awards (and been nominated for thirty-eight!), and been translated into more than a dozen languages around the world. Called the “master of school stories” by Kirkus Reviews, Andrew is now the author of over eighty acclaimed books for kids. He lives in Maine with his wife, Becky. They have four grown sons and two rascally cats. 

Visit Andrew online at andrewclements.com.

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Special thanks to Emily at Random House Children's Books for the ecopy for review.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title, the author, or the publisher, feel free to click through the links provided above.  This title is available now, so seek thee out a copy in "e" or "tree" form at your favorite retailers.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!

(BOOKHAWKS FTW!)