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Jump to navigationJump to searchBarry Loser: I am not a Loser by Jim Smith (view source)
Revision as of 15:56, 2 September 2020
, 15:56, 2 September 2020no edit summary
It's a book that's going to be enjoyed by boys in the six-to-eight age range and it could well be the encouragement that the reluctant reader needs to get them going. Despite the 240 pages it's actually a very quick read (I read it in about an hour) because of the amount of space taken up by Barry's drawings. It's effectively a series of short stories so the emerging reader can have the pride of having got one under his belt fairly quickly - and a whole book before he's realised that he's actually done it.
Whilst I was reading I couldn't help thinking about [[The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon|Tom Gates]] and in the ensuing scrap Barry Loser, er, lost. Even allowing for the similarity of format (lots of picture and minimal text) Tom is a more rounded character and - more importantly to me - he's a ''nicer'' boy. Barry can be very unkind, both in written word and deed and doesn't always get his comeuppance. He and Bunky enjoy annoying a single parent who lives in a nearby flat and his Granny Harumpadunk is a stereotype: ''can't hear, can't see, really slow at walking'' says the caption on Barry's drawing. The girls in school are all silly and shallow and Mr Hodgepodge is something of a scaredy -cat.
I know - it's a book for kids and boys in this age range are not big on subtlety, but it would have been good to see a bit of balance. The stories are going to appeal to the boys - farts, bogeys and the unfortunate incident of the wet pants abound and it might just be the thing to prove that this reading lark is actually good fun. I just wish that Granny had used her stick as an offensive weapon once or twice!
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag. We also have a review of [[I Am So Over Being a Loser by Jim Smith]].
The publishing success for this age group is [[Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney|Wimpy Kid]] but we've always thought that [[Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree by Andy Stanton|Mr Gum]] was the star of the show.
