Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, Knopf Books for
Young Readers, New York, 2000. ISBN 978-0679886372
Summary
When new students arrive at Mica
High School, everyone notices. But new sophomore
Stargirl is unlike any other student before: she wears hippie dresses, plays a ukulele,
and doesn’t wear any makeup. She sings
happy birthday to students, dances outside in the rain, and says hello to
upperclassmen she doesn’t know.
Junior Leo Borlock is fascinated by
Stargirl, the minute he meets her. She’s different and refreshing from all the
other girls at his school. Everyone else likes Stargirl at first and she quickly becomes one of the more popular
kids, making friends with the cheerleaders and embracing lonely freshmen.
But soon Stargirl’s novelty wears
off and she’s seen as annoying and fake. She doesn’t agree with the status quo of the
school and thinks everyone should get along. After a disastrous interview on
the school’s TV show, students begin to turn on Stargirl. Now as his fellow
students mock and bully the girl he loves, Leo must decide what’s more important:
his Stargirl, or his friends.
Critical Evaluation
Stargirl herself makes the book
stand out. She is unique not only in how
she dresses and behaves but also in how she acts. She knows who she is as a person and
isn’t afraid to be herself. Even when
given the chance to stand up and fight her bullies, she continues to show them
love and peace. It would have been easy
for Spinelli to create Stargirl as a stereotypical weird outcast, but instead
she’s portrayed as a girl who really does
love her fellow students.
“Stargirl” could have read the same
as any other high school tale of bullying and outcasts. But there is a sense of hope and wonder
throughout the novel and the belief that there is something bigger out there then petty high
school drama. The book is set in Arizona and Spinelli’s descriptions
of the desert and the sunrises give the setting a mythical, magical feel. Between Spinelli’s writing and Stargirl
herself, the book makes for a beautiful, lasting read.
Reader’s Annotation
With her pet rat and ukulele,
Stargirl is unlike any student at Mica High. Can she show her fellow students that being
different is okay?
About the Author
“When I was growing up, the first thing I wanted to
be was a cowboy. That lasted till I was about ten. Then I wanted to be a
baseball player. Preferably shortstop for the New York Yankees.
I played Little League in junior high and high school. I only
hit two home runs in my career, but I had no equal when it came to standing at
shortstop and chattering to my pitcher: “C'mon, baby, hum the pea.”
Unfortunately, when I stood at the plate, so many peas were hummed past me for
strikes that I decided to let somebody else become shortstop for the Yankees.
It was about that time that our high school football team won
a heart-stopping game against one of the best teams in the country. While the
rest of the town was tooting horns and celebrating, I went home and wrote a
poem about the game. A few days later the poem was published in the local
newspaper, and suddenly I had something new to become: a writer.
Little did I know that twenty-five years would pass before a
book of mine would be published.
Not that I wasn't trying. In the years after college I wrote
four novels, but nobody wanted them. They were adult novels. So was number
five, or so I thought. However, because it was about a thirteen-year-old boy,
adult book publishers didn't even want to see it. But children's publishers did
— and that's how, by accident, I became an author of books for kids.
Life is full of happy accidents.”
(Jerry Spinelli. Retrieved September 29th, 2014 from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/jerry-spinelli)
Genres
Coming of
Age
Contemporary
Curriculum Ties N/A
Booktalking Ideas
1: Is it better to stand out, or stick with the crowd?
2: Have you ever known
somebody like Stargirl?
Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 12+
Grades 7+
Challenge Issues
N/A
Defense File
Literary Awards: Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book for Children’s
Literature (2001,) NAIBA Book Award for Children’s Literature, YALSA Best Books
for Young Adults (Top Ten, 2011) (Retrieved September 29th, 2014
from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22232.Stargirl)
Why included?
Stargirl was one of my personal
favorite in high school. It’s perfect for reluctant readers and for any teen
who feels like they are different.
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