StarGirl

Reason Book Chosen

I chose this book because it is the winner of the 2001 ALA Best Books, and a New York Times bestseller. Also, I had yet to read a book by Jerry Spinelli, a well-known young adult author.

Bibliographic Information

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Publisher: AlfredA. Knopf

ISBN: 0439444438

Copyright Date: 2000

Genre

Realistic Fiction

About the Author

Jerry Spinelli has written more than a dozen books for young readers, including Maniac Magee, for which he won the Newbery Medal.

Reader’s Annotation

A new girl in town brings out the wonder, imagination, jealousy, magic, resentment, and confusion in a small town and a star struck boy.

Plot Summary

Leo Borlock moves to a small, Arizona town and goes to a small, suburban high school where not much happens. Then, one day, Stargirl shows up, wearing funny outfits, playing her ukulele, singing happy birthday to students in the cafeteria, and walking around school with her pet rat. No one knows what to make of her, not even Leo. Her differences are confusing, but also celebrated. Everyone is curious and everyone wants in. Stargirl suddenly becomes wildly popular, then wildly unpopular. Leo falls in love with her, but as the students’ perspectives change, so do Leo’s. While Leo is attracted to her eccentricities and her oneness with the universe, Leo also wants a normal girlfriend, someone that other people will like, will acknowledge, will talk to. He doesn’t think it is so much to ask her to be just like the other girls, to give up a piece of who she is really is.

Critical Analysis

This is, above all, a story about the universe, the lessons it teaches us, and the funny ways it works. It is about relationships with others and with oneself, about individuality, about the power of trusting what is right and real. It is about love, and growth, and loss, and the way people change over time, but never really change who they are at the core. It has many wonderful timeless qualities and a few long, beautiful earthly passages. Stargirl and the world she lives in, and the world she draws Leo into, is magical. This book has a lot of soul, a lot of heart, and works like a magical charm much like Stargirl herself, whom resembles a younger and stronger version of the movie character, Amelie. The tone is reminiscent, even ominous. Leo’s voice echoes the wisdom and naivety of Fred Savage in the wonder years. The plot is realistic, but the world created, the essence of the novel, teeters on magical realism.

Themes/Issues/Tags

Conformity, Individuality, Stereotypes, First Love, Popularity, Acts of Kindness, Being True to Oneself, Timelessness, Wisdom, Intuition, Reality, High School, Identity, Worldliness, Rebellion/Revolution

Challenging Subject Matters

New Age, Hippy Dippy, Teaches Rebellion

Defense: On the surface this book might appear cultish or socialist, preaching love and acceptance and individuality. Stargirl’s character might have some parents concerned – her zen-like, prophetic nature. The book’s focus though, is not on Stargirl, but on the way others react to Stargirl. More than anything this book teaches youth to have their own opinions, to wonder, to ask, and to question others, beliefs, systems around them, and the world, and not to pick everything up like a sponge.

Curriculum Ties

Diversity

Acceptance

Individuality/Conformity

Reading Level

15+

Interest level

12-17