The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy

by Mary Winn Heider

A tuba player without a tuba and his jellyfish-imitating sister cope with their father's disappearance.

When Lenny Volpe, former quarterback of the worst professional football team in the nation, leaves his family and disappears, the Chicago Horribles win their first game in a long time. Fans are thrilled. The world seems to go back to normal. Except for the Volpe kids.

Winston throws himself into playing the tuba, and Louise starts secret experiments to find a cure for brain injuries, and they're each fine, just fine, with coping in their own way. That is, until the investigation of some eccentric teacher behavior and the discovery of a real live bear paraded as the Horribles' new mascot make it clear that things are very much Not Fine. The siblings may just need each other, after all.

Genres: Middle Grade, Humor, Realistic Fiction, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2021

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve told this story before, but I like to mention it periodically. Years ago when I was a children’s librarian in NYC I ran a book club for kids between the ages of 9-12. One conundrum I faced as part of the job was the kids’ rejection of any book with a cover they didn’t immediately gravitate to. I solved this problem by playing a game with them where I would put a bunch of books in inter-library mailing envelopes and then booktalk each one to the kids (a booktalk is sort of like a movie trailer for a book). They’d vote on what title they wanted to read next I’d reveal it, and they’d end up reading books whose jackets and covers they’d normally avoid like the plague. Now I mention all of this in my lead up to Mary Winn Heider’s Losers at the Center of the Galaxy because it is rare that I run across a new novel that is this enticing and good and yet makes me feel an almost painful desire to run a children’s book group again. If I put this book in a bag, imagine how many ways I could sell it to the kids. Would I mention the grieving older brother with a penchant for playing Darth Vader’s “Imperial March” on his tuba? Would I mention the brilliant younger daughter that accidentally ends up with glowing skin before attempting to rescues a terrible football team’s bear mascot? Would I mention the conspiracy of their school’s teachers or the cat-themed pop star or the faux ghost or or OR would I just mention ALL of it at once? I dunno. I do know that this book was cursed with the ugly stick and stuck with a book jacket that does little to imply the wonders inside. If you’re looking for weird, wild, wonderfulness that taps into wackiness yet manages to tug at your heartstrings so belligerently that it’ll bring honest tears to your eyes, Heider’s the one to seek out.

Things are broken. Two years ago football player Lenny Volpe went missing, leaving behind his wife, his son Winston, and his daughter Louise. Winston, the elder child, has coped by sinking deeply into his love of his tuba and his crush/best friend Frenchie. Meanwhile his younger sister Louise has taken a more scientific approach. Knowing that her father received brain damage, suffered during the course of his football career, she has decided to find a cure for the problem. Trouble is, her experiments have a tendency to make her (there’s no good way to put this) glow? That’s strange enough, but soon Winston starts investigating why all the school teachers are up to no good, Louise’s science club gets her hooked on a feline-centric pop star, there’s a bear serving as a mascot for their dad’s old team that's in need of rescuing , and that’s all before the world’s wackiest halftime show. This family is a little broken but with a little talking and a lot of understanding, maybe it’s something these two kids can fix.

An ode to a first page. Good first pages are beauties to behold. This is true of any novel, whether it’s written for a twenty-year-old or a twelve-year-old. Of course, with a children’s book the bar is a bit higher. The thing I retained from my years doing baby and toddler storytimes is that children are not here to buoy your adult self-esteem. And just like a 2-year-old that finds your rendition of Little Bunny Foo Foo dull to the extreme, so too does a ten-year-old not care a jot about your book if you haven’t hooked them right from the start. I imagine a kid that sees this book. They flip to the beginning to see if there’s anything on the first page that will grab their attention and there they see an immediate description of two people named Winston and Louise standing at “the center of the entire galaxy”. “The ground was squishy, the air smelled like armpit, and the crowd roared. Also, the cheerleaders were on fire.” I don’t have many life goals that I’m working on at the moment, but I do hope against hope that someday, somehow, I might write a first page that contains a sentence as fine as that one. Because there is nothing quite as eye-catching as a cheerleader on fire.

I alluded to this earlier but I really am actually very interested in how an author is capable of pairing wackadoodle humor alongside (for lack of a better term) heart. It seems to me a question of tone. If Heider is going to get any reader to invest in the emotional growth of her characters, she has to make them relatable and likable near the start. That’s easy enough for Winston. He’s basically a great big walking open wound of a person anyway. Louise is the tricky one. She’s scientific and sardonic, which is appealing but not necessarily relatable. It takes a little while to discover, but she too wears her heart on her sleeve (albeit a sleeve covered by a lab coat). Still I think it’s the moment when you realize that Louise is completely misinterpreted her brother’s actions that you get a clue to how lonely she is. Winston also misunderstands her, and readers tend to love characters that are misunderstood. It’s an automatic gimme. So it is that having established who these kids are, and taken away their dad, Heider is capable of pulling out the stops on her wackiness, reigning it in periodically to give you another zap to the old emotions.

Yeah. So. Don't know if I need to mention this again (and when they re-release this book in a newly reissued paperback in 5 years time then I’m sure this review will be out-of-date) but the cover of this book looks like it’s a football/sports book. I mean, there’s some football in here, but it’s not exactly complimentary to the game. Seems a bit of a misleading bit of marketing (and since when have football middle grade novels ever sold a cent, I’d ask you?) so let’s try and imagine what a better book jacket for this book might have looked like. Let’s see… I’d put some flattened tubas and perky sousaphones on there, absolutely. A gigantic, slightly disturbing, definitely frightening fake giant cat head, front and center. Probably an eerie glowing girl in one corner, and maybe a bear thinking, “Snackity Snack Snack Snack Snackity Snack” (the bear’s brief monologue in this book would make an excellent audition piece for some enterprising kid, by the way) in an opposite corner. But while you can sell a book on kooky elements, it’s much harder to convince people of a book’s more heartfelt charms. While Heider is blessed with an ability to plumb plot out of chaos (I mean, her previous book involved a barbershop quartet of disembodied heads, for crying out loud) it’s her talent for pulling a 180 and then drawing heart out of that same chaotic mix that really puts her on the map. In an era of information overload, Mary Winn Heider is the author who will lead us through the pandemonium into the light. Hand this to the kid that wants something smart and funny with a side order of turmoil for spice.

For ages 9-12.

[Erin]

Giveaway Win!

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grieving can be funny in this story about siblings Winston and Louise whose father walked out prior to the story. Set in Chicago, there's bologna, football, a real-life bear who is being used as a team mascot, teachers with secrets, Kittentown Dynamo; a pop sensation, and a science club that wants to use science for good and save the day.
Give this to those who are looking for a little bit of humor in their realistic and dramatic fiction. Dramedy in a book.

[Michelle (FabBookReviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Winston and Louise stood together at the fifty-yard line. The center of the galaxy. It was a weird place to put the center of the galaxy to be honest. The ground was squishy, the air smelled like armpit, and the crowd roared. Also, the cheerleaders were on fire.”

The sophomore novel from The Mortification of Fovea Munson author Mary Winn Heider, The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy is a tremendous contemporary middle grade not to be missed.

”Winston didn’t understand how the worst thing that had ever happened to him only made people want to joke around.”

For siblings Winston and Louise Volpe- and their mother- nothing has been the same since their father, notorious Chicago Horribles quarterback Lenny Volpe, suddenly disappeared. Well, things truly changed for the family since Lenny Volpe first started showing symptoms of sports-related brain injury, but the disappearance has pushed the family to breaking. As the story opens, readers learn that Lenny Volpe has been missing for a few weeks. In an attempt to gain more attention and momentum to prod the city’s search for their father, Louise and Winston attend a Horribles game and prepare to make a plea at a press conference with their mother. Only, as it turns out, the Horribles have actually started to win since their father vanished, fans are cemented in their view that Lenny Volpe is a curse they are much better without, and the owner of the Chicago Horribles is, in fact, a rather horrible human being.

”The only thing that could bring [Lenny] back was a brain that wasn’t totally disintegrating. And apparently, [Louise] was the only person who understood that. So she was going to have to make it happen herself. That was what she was supposed to do.”

Fast forward to two years later: Louise and Winston are middle school students and Lenny Volpe is still missing. Louise and Winston have grown far apart and have taken on separate causes requiring their full attention: for Winston, it is band and playing a tuba named Lonesome with his wonderful tuba-playing friend Frenchie; for Louise, it is hours upon hours of time alone in Science Club and hiding a top-secret experiment that will hopefully cure brain trauma. Now, if you think there may be enough going on with the story, just wait: add in a series of highly suspicious activity involving the Volpe’s teachers; a touring global megastar named Kittentown Dynamo; the new Chicago Horribles live bear mascot; strange issues plaguing head of security for the Chicago Horribles; break-ins; glowing-in-the-dark; missing helmets; and...a spectacular halftime show involving felines. I do not wish to spoil anything further, but I would like to note that everything- and I mean all of the plot trails and seemingly unconnected plot points- come together. Brilliantly. Sometimes in extreme moments of comedy, sometimes in quieter moments, and sometimes in bursts of breathless anticipation. The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy is as much a contemplation about grief, about family, about having and letting in support and about finding the will to carry on, as it is a wildly adventurous, zany, and clever story.

Some of the most impactful and memorable of middle grade reads are able to walk a delicate, seemingly impossible line of humour and sadness: The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy has found that line. Managing to balance delightfully riotous, funny turns and bursting wit with moments of deep sincerity, heartbreak, and revelations that squeeze your breath and heart, Mary Winn Heider has done a marvellous job of storytelling here. If you have read and enjoyed the author’s highly original and humorous The Mortification of Fovea Munson, then do make sure to try The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy. Any readers who are searching for something perfectly unusual, perfectly wise and funny, this might be for you. Readers who enjoy the writing of authors such as Susin Nielsen, Kate Messner, Rob Harrell, Dusti Bowling, or Angela Ahn, may especially savour this incredible read.

I received a copy of this title courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and comments are my own.

[Ginger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quirky humor in this had me laughing out loud and cheering for a boy with his tuba and his scientifically-minded sister as they deal with the loss of their father.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the tuba playing, the mad science, and the giant Kitty concert, which made laugh out loud. It's a book that deals with serious issues, while feeling warm and friendly. There are no mean girls, for instance, which is nice! Instead there are super-smart nice girls who don't give up on being friendly.

[Alina Borger · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOSERS AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY is a middle grade madcap caper with a big heart, and it absolutely won mine.

Two years ago, their dad, a former not-so-star-QB suffering from CTE, walked out of the house and never came back. His football team rejoiced and started bringing a caged bear onto the field to change their luck.

But Winston and Louise are heartbroken. They pretty much subsist on bologna sandwiches because their mom works nights, and parents them mostly through notes left on the fridge.

These days, Louise uses her time in science club to find a cure for CTE. She suspects the answer involves amplifying cellular respiration with G.L.O.P. In her off-hours, she worries about the fate of that sad bear in the cage and wonders if she couldn’t do something about that, too.

Winston, meanwhile, plays second-chair tuba with his best friend (and first chair), Frenchie—at least until they figure out the teachers appear to be involved in some sketchy business that includes throwing tubas off the roof.

And if course EVERYONE is listening to Kittentown Dynamo’s hit album on repeat—

So when Kittentown is *in* town to play the halftime show, the bear is on the field, and there are new sousaphones to be had—EVERYONE is there, too.

Heider does humor, voice, and heart with the masters of the genre. Because each chapter has a POV character, we see the world through their eyes: Louise is too “scientific” to consider the sunset as more than light rays through pollution; Winston always sits in “tuba order” no matter where he goes, and the bear likes snacks. Snackity-snackity-snackity-snackity-snacking....

Still, it’s the tenderness Heider wields with grief that really gets ya in the end. The people who love each other show up for each other, the stories that need to be told are spoken, and it turns out that some disappearances are more redemptive than anyone could have imagined.

Sure, I’d be the first to admit that the mom’s story is underdeveloped and feels a little too tidy near the end. But did I care, laughing as I was with tears also streaming down my face? Ummm...no.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I’m sending it to my avid-reading nephews ASAP.

[Larissa Theule · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book—the heart, the humor, the healing, the friendships, Chicago, band practice, family, all of it. Mary Winn Heider is a master of middle-grade fiction and this one’s not to be missed.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lot of plot packed into a compact little book. Big points for the bear POV!

[Alison Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up.

[Mary Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book, but it feels a bit disjointed, which is why I am only giving it 3 stars.

The Volpe children are trying to cope with the loss of their father, who disappeared two years ago. He was a professional football player for the Chicago Horribles who was suffering from memory loss and other side effects of frequent concussions. Did he disappear because he got confused? Did he purposefully leave so they wouldn't have to watch him keep falling apart? They don't know.

Winston plays tuba in the middle school band, and has a secret crush on the first chair tuba, Frenchie. Louise is a budding scientist who is working on ways to cure brain injuries. Their mom works all of the time as a real estate agent, and communicates with them mostly through notes on the refrigerator.

When strange things start happening at school and at the Chicago Horribles stadium, Winston, Frenchie and Louise investigate. Everything comes to a head at a Chicago Horribles football game with a surprise halftime show by Kittentown Dynamo (the most popular pop singer in the country).

The missing father feels almost added on to this story (we need a reason for Louise to be doing science experiments, and a reason for the mother to not be around). The first chapter introduces him as missing; it might have worked better if he had been introduced on the day he left, or the week before he left instead. There are other weird and awkward plot points, but I can't share them without spoiling the story!

When I finished this book, I was glad I read it, but won't be inclined to read it again, or recommend it to anyone.

[Laura Sibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This inventive story of two siblings processing the literal loss of their father in very different ways had me laughing out loud by the third sentence. Heider's trademark quirk and humor are abundant (glow in the dark skin, murdered tubas, bears, a Kitty band). At the same time, she tackles the timely and difficult issue of CTE with sensitivity. She treads this line so well because she takes her readers seriously. I laughed out loud many time while reading. But I was also moved to weep at the end. Kids will enjoy the absurd aspects of the story while also taking in the ways that the siblings are serious about solving the mystery of their missing father.

[Amelia Brunskill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like the MG Ted Lasso of books, in the most lovely of ways. Kids, and even adults, trying their best, in a very sincere way, to deal with hard things in life, but also being very funny in the process. I rooted so hard for these characters, even when they made me extremely nervous (don’t take on live bears, kiddos!).
Of course, I could be slightly biased by the fact that Mary Winn is herself a delight, but I don’t really think so—it takes a lot to melt my grinch heart and this book did so.

[Laurie]

I loved this tender, wise, and zany story about grief and connection. THE LOSERS AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY stars vulnerable, funny, lovable characters who made me laugh countless times and then made me cry by the end of their quest. Mary Winn Heider’s wildly original second novel is every bit as moving as it is entertaining. A winner!

[Katycarolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun and sweet story. I loved every twist and turn! And the characters felt like good friends.

[S. Van Zandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, wacky, super creative, smart, and poignant, I enjoyed this book so much!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why every other MG novel I read seems to be about grief...It's a universal emotion and experience that we can all relate to, I guess. At any rate, I appreciate how Heider tackles the subject in THE LOSERS AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY. Because Win and Louise are both grieving the mysterious loss of their father, their lives are not all sunshine and rainbows. Their sadness definitely comes across in the book. However, I appreciate that their story is more poignant than morose. Mostly, LOSERS is an upbeat, entertaining tale. It's undeniably far-fetched, even silly at points. Still, it's the kind of novel middle-graders will love, infused as it is with heart, humor, and zaniness. It also teaches some important lessons about family, grief, determination, and hope. The biggest complaint I have about the story is that I wish Louise had had to face some consequences for her criminal actions. Having to work at the stadium to pay the damages for her vandalism, for example, would have been a realistic result that also teaches young readers that breaking the law—even for a good cause—has consequences, many of them unpleasant. Other than that, though, I found this book to be a fun, enjoyable read.

If I could, I'd give this book 3 1/2 stars; since I can't, I'm rounding up.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louise and Winston are dealing with grief. Their father wandered off one day and never came back. Winston put his grief into his tuba named lonesome while Louise tried to find a cure for the brain issue her father had. Their mother is non existent in their life right now so they're on there own. Science club and a glowing creation keep Louise focused. Winston and his good friend Frenchie realize something odd is happening with all the teachers so they set out to find out what. This leads them to the stadium where their father used to play. Louise is also drawn to the stadium for a different reason, to free the bear the mascot of the team her father used to be on. The kids have their missions that drive them both are hoping it will lead to answers about their disappearing father.

[Emily Bush · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a touching book about grief and how everyone has a different way of dealing with it. After Winston’s & Louise’s dad disappears, they each have to find a way to come to terms with the fact they may never see him again. Louise loses herself in her scientific research, Winston gets caught up in his music (specifically the Imperial March from StarWars), and their mom seems to never be around. Through a crazy series of events, Winston & Louise find some true friends and learn to deal with their dad’s disappearance together.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy

[Jeremy Freed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a heartfelt story. It's touching and sad, with just enough silliness mixed in. There's actually a lot of silliness, but it's still just the right amount.

The author does a great job of showing how easy it is to misunderstand another person's method of grieving, and the life that comes from finally opening up after pushing people away.

This book caught my eye while I was looking for a sci-fi story. It was definitely not that. And I am not a sports fan. But after reading the first few pages I decided to give it a try, and I am better for it.

[Krysta Halye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lou is a middle school scientist, her brother Win is a high school tuba player/ detective.

Their father is a professional football player for the Horribles but he started losing his mind slowly and one day vanished. Their Mom is a real estate agent who is often absent due to work.

Win and Lou both decide to search for their father but in their own separate ways which eventually come together along with some mysteriously acting teachers, a strange feline-esque pop star, and a bear.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4: A silly story with a few serious twists, Heider's novel of two young siblings growing up the absence of their missing football father has glowing science, shiny tubas, dancing cats and undercover teacher conspiracies to entertain the reader along the way. Funny and bright, this style of fun that borders on the surreal may not be for everyone but readers of Gordon Korman books will find the hijinks comfortably familiar.

[LS Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A touching and adventurous story about two siblings coping with the “loss” of their father. Loss has multiple meanings. I know every book can’t show parental involvement, but when dealing with this topic I wished the mom had been more engaged. The book also had some very fun parts to it as well so it wasn’t all sad.

[Martha Bode · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it ! Local legend Mary Winn Heider does it again with her YA-ish book about a missing father, tuba players without tubas, glowing jellyfish, a feline pop star, and a bear. After I finished, I reread some parts to find details that I missed on first read. YA readers may miss some of the references, but most assuredly their parents will not. 👍

Note: Chapter 26 is excellent :)

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely unlike anything I have read recently, in a great way. I laughed a lot. Tuba jokes, first lil' school crushes, sibling love, persevering through difficulties, bears. So much good stuff in here! Don't judge by the cover or title, really - both those could be lots better in keeping with the content.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you lose someone in this day and age? Did the mom try to find her husband? The mom had no idea where her kids were day or night. Is the dad dead?

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was fun and touching. One of those books that makes me wish I was still working so I could talk it up.

[Liv · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok but the middle of it just did not make slot of scene

[Jamie Johnson Leach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit silly, but a good ending 😉

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - the ending even made me tear up!
I got distracted by the fake pop music aspect and found that hard to track and an unnecessary plot.