LOSER

by

Jerry Spinelli

 

 

PLOT

 

EXPOSITION

 

Characters:                            Donald Zinkoff,Mom,Dad,Polly.

Setting:                                 Place - school,house  Time - 1st to 5th grade

Dramatic Situation:               When Don got to go to school for the first time.

Conflict that motivates:        Don was so happy no matter what happened.

Obstacles:                             Don vomits a lot.

 

RISING ACTION

 

Complication:     Don had to miss a lot of school for surgery for his vomiting.

Changes in motivation:  He is sad.  He likes school and doesn't want to miss.

Obstacles:  Don has a mean teacher on top of all of that.

 

CLIMAX

 

The climax of the story was when Donald had to miss 3 weeks of school. He was so upset that he tried to sneak off to school. But his mom put the baby Polly in front of the door because when someone left, she always yelled "bye bye." That way Don's mom knew he was leaving and so he got caught.

 

FALLING ACTION

 

Events/After effects

1. He got to go back to school.

2.  Don had Field Day.

3.  They had races and he was the anchor.

4.  He lost the race for his team and everyone called him a "loser.''

 

RESOLUTION

 

The resolution would be when Don got an A and everyone cheered for him, but the next day they hated him again because field day was coming up and everyone remembered what happened last time at field day.  Even though they called him a loser last year he still went and... you'll have to read to find out how things turn out for Don.

 

VOCABULARY

 

1.  Clunker - The old clunker was like a dumpster.

2.  Rekindle - He rekindled like blowing on a fire.

3.  Penmanship - Don's penmanship was horrid.

4.  Haphazard - The haphazard outfit was atrocious.

5.  Slapdash - Don quickly put the outfit on in a slapdash manner.

6.  Agape - His mouth was agape and as wide as a cave.

 

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

 

WHAT TEXT SAID             FIG. LANG. TYPE          WHAT DOES IT MEAN     

 

His handwriting was                             Metaphor                         Don had bad hand writting.

atrocious.

 

It was taller than a building.                 Metaphor                          His hat was big.

 

Don laughs like a goat.                          Simile                               His laugh was annyoing.

 

Pups from the same litter.                    Metaphor                         They're from the same environment.

 

You're slow as molasses.                       Simile                               Don is very slow.

 

 

 

CHARACTER TRAIT

 

DON-fun,upbeat nice   Dons attitude shows he is nice and upbeat.

.

MOM-works at home   His mom's actions show that she works at home.

 

DAD-mailman              His actions show he's a mailman because he works

                                     as one.

 

POLLY-door alarm        Her actions also show she's an alarm because

                                     she yells "bye bye" alerting her mother when Don 

                                     leaves.

 

MAIN THEME:  COURAGE

1.  Don is very independent and when he gets down he gets back up.

2.  When Don lost the race on field day for his team,everyone called him 

     a loser. Don was okay and went to school the next day.

3.  When Don was home he tried going down stairs to face his fear of

     darkness.