Stargirl

Author: Jerry Spinelli

Publishing:  Dell Laurel-Leaf

Number of Pages: Paperback—186 pages

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

Reading Level:  Ages 9-12

Summary: This book is about a young girl named Stargirl.  She moves to a small town in Arizona and attends Mica High.  She stands out to everyone, not only is she the new girl but she is also extremely different from everyone else.  She sings to people on their birthdays (with her ukulele in hand), she dresses funny, and she carries around with her a pet rat named Cinnamon.  Leo is oddly smitten by her right away and after a couple days she captures the whole schools attention.  Everyone loves Stargirl and everything is great.  Then, things turn the other way when she always cheers for the other team during sporting events and people hate Stargirl.  After Stargirl’s popularity has ended, her and Leo continue with their friendship and it starts turning into more than that.  She takes him to her special place where they sit together and then a couple days later they kiss.  After this Leo and Stargirl spend as much time together as they can; he does things with her like leaves thank you notes and drop change on the sidewalk.  After a while Leo realizes that the whole school rejects them so he encourages Stargirl to become normal.  She tries this, but feels like the best way to win back the school is to win the speech competition.  When she wins and comes back to the school she is only welcomed by three people and she realizes that nothing has changed and that she would rather just be herself, but after she does this Leo, too, abandons her as he is confused with his feelings and desperately wants to be accepted by the school.  When the Ocotillo Ball arrives Leo decides not to go but he does watch the ball from a distance.  Stargirl regains her popularity at the ball as she arrives in a beautiful, flower-covered bike and then involves everyone in the “bunny hop” dance.  Hillary (a girl that has hated Stargirl all along) comes up to Stargirl after the dance and tells her that she ruins everything, and then she slaps her, and with this Stargirl gives her a kiss on the cheek.  The next day Stargirl has disappeared.  The story ends fifteen years later with Leo working as a set designer.  Also some changes influenced by Stargirl have happened at Mica High.  At the very end Leo receives a porcupine necktie from Stargirl and his hopes of her continue.

My Reaction to the Book:  I loved this book!  I thought that it was really fun and creative and just cute!  This is a very good book. 

Potential Problems:  The only problem that I can see there being is that Stargirl is rejected by her peers and a little different from everyone else.

Recommendations:  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone; I thought it was such a great book, everyone should read it because it helps you be yourself better.