- Comedy
- Barry Loser collection
- Ages 7–10
Barry Loser
Part of the collectionBarry Loser→Best for children who want easy, funny, heavily illustrated school-life comedy with plenty of daft language and very low emotional risk.
- Books11 / 11
- Arcs1
- Span2012–2019
- StatusComplete
The series
At a glance.
Barry Loser is a highly illustrated comedy series written and illustrated by Jim Smith. Across eleven core books, Barry navigates school, friends, family, holidays, birthdays, pets, football and general humiliation while trying very hard to seem cool. The series is built around voice: Barry's invented slang, exaggerated self-image and total inability to spot how ridiculous things have become. It is lighter and less emotionally sharp than Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with more cartoon bounce and less social bite. The best use case is reluctant readers who need short chapters, drawings, familiar situations and a high jokes-per-page ratio.
Best for children who want easy, funny, heavily illustrated school-life comedy with plenty of daft language and very low emotional risk.
Primary themes
Overall tone
- Funny
- Silly
- Irreverent
- Absurdist
Publication order is best because friendships, running jokes and Barry's world accumulate, but most instalments can still be enjoyed fairly independently.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- IStandalone collection arcBooks 1–11 · 2012–2019Low sensitivity
Barry's school-life disasters
Eleven doodly comedy books about school, friends, family and Barry's endless attempts to be keel.
Barry Loser works as a standalone comic collection rather than a major narrative arc. The books share Barry's voice, school world, family setup, friendship embarrassments and visual style, while individual instalments spin out into holidays, mysteries, birthdays, school trips, football and pets. Children can start at book one for the cleanest introduction, but the main continuity is running jokes and character familiarity rather than plot dependence. This makes the series particularly useful for reluctant or stop-start readers: they get the comfort of a known voice without needing to hold a complicated storyline in their head.
Book 1I am Not a Loser
Book 2I am Still Not a Loser
Book 3I am so over being a Loser
Book 4I am sort of a Loser
Book 5Barry Loser and the Holiday of Doom
Book 6Barry Loser and the Case of the Crumpled Carton
Book 7Barry Loser Hates Half Term
Book 8Barry Loser and the Birthday Billions
Book 9Worst School Trip Ever!
Book 10Barry Loser is the Best at Football NOT!
Book 11Barry Loser and the Trouble with Pets
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 7–10
- Read aloud · 6–9
- Independent · 7–10
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Very high
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
Low
Grows with the reader
Not especially
Sensitivity envelope
Low overall, and consistent.
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
Read this before…
Series that lead readers naturally into this one.
- Mr Gum →
Similar in feel
Different shelves, same wavelength.
- Tom Gates →
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid →
- Loki →
Read this after…
Series that pick up where Barry Loser leaves off.
- Middle School →
About the author