Bibliography
Spinelli, J. (2000) Stargirl. New York N.Y.: Knopf
16 year old Leo is as surprised as his fellow students when Stargirl shows up the first day after summer vacation. Stargirl is totally different from the other students. She wears granny skirts and plays happy birthday on her ukulele to her fellow students. Most of the students avoid her, but Leo finds himself interested in her. The tide turns for Stargirl when she goes out onto the football field at halftime to cheer the team on which brings the crowds out for the next game. Now she is popular and almost everyone likes her and many imitate her. Leo finally admits he likes her and they become a couple. Things are going great until she runs to help a basketball player from the opposing team when he is injured during the game. The basketball team loses the next game and the students blame Stargirl's concern for other team players for the loss. Little by little the students begin to shun her and Leo. Stargirl doesn't realize what is happening, but Leo begins to notice the shunning and convinces Stargirl she needs to change. Stargirl changes her appearance and behavior for Leo, but when the students still shun her after her victory at the speech competition, she reverts back to her Stargirl image. Leo cannot handle the shunning, and he and Stargirl break up. Stargirl moves away after making a final dazzling appearance at the prom. This book might give a teen-age student who doesn't fit into the norm some encouragement.
Reviews:
Ilene Cooper (Booklist, June 1 & 15, 2000 (Vol. 96, No. 19 & 20))Sixteen-year-old Leo recounts Stargirl's sojourn at Mica High in an allegorical story that is engagingly written but overreaches. Everyone notices Stargirl when she comes to school. She wears a granny gown, strums a ukulele, and sings "Happy Birthday" to kids in the cafeteria. She also carries around a pet rat. Her classmates veer between ignoring her and being discreetly fascinated by her weirdness--dancing when there's no music, speaking in class of trolls and stars. Slowly, Stargirl attracts a following, especially after she gives a spellbinding speech in an oratorical contest and singlehandly stirs up school spirit. But her intense popularity is short-lived as, predictably, the teens turn on her. Leo is attracted by Stargirl and her penchant for good works. But just about the time they get together, the rest of the school is shunning her, and to his confusion and despair, Leo eventually turns his back on Stargirl, too. Spinelli firmly captures the high-school milieu, here heightened by the physical and spiritual barrenness of an Arizona location, a new town where people come to work for technology companies and the school team is called the Electrons. Dialogue, plot, and supporting cast are strong: the problem here is Stargirl herself. She may have been homeschooled, may not have seen much TV, but despite her name, she has lived on planet earth for 15 years, and her naivete is overplayed and annoying. When Leo tells her that not everyone likes having somebody with a ukulele sing "Happy Birthday" to them, she is shocked. That she has not noticed she is being shunned is unbelievable, and, at times, readers may feel more sympathy for the bourgeois teens than the earnest, kind, magical Stargirl. That's too bad, because Spinelli's point about the lure and trap of normalcy is a good one. But to make it real, Stargirl needed to have at least one foot on the ground. Category: Older Readers. 2000, Knopf, $15.95 and $17.99. Gr. 6-9.
Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)In Spinelli's newest novel, Stargirl, the character matches standards he has previously set. Stargirl is the main character of the novel. And that is her real name...at least temporarily, for she is given to changing her name to match her current philosophical and personality bent. When the viewpoint character, Leo Borlock, sees her for the first time he notices her huge eyes that look like deer's eyes caught in headlights. And this is an appropriate image when Stargirl enters a public high school that is not exactly a hotbed of nonconformity. It is not just appearance that makes her so different--Stargirl embodies the random-acts-of-kindness approach to life and can not understand the us/them divisions so crucial to high school life. Most of the school turns against Stargirl, who becomes a cheerleader and applauds both teams. This special brand of cheering first brought the team success, but when they fail, she is the obvious scapegoat. Leo, the boy who tells the story, falls in love with Stargirl despite trying to resist. He is swept into a painful conflict. Should he let himself be who he really is and love her, or continue his comfortable, conformist existence? Stargirl, who loves him back, tries to conform but the results are disastrous. Most of Spinelli's books have an underlying theme of conformity. In Stargirl the theme becomes the plot and its effects are devastating. When Stargirl is driven out of town by the cruelties of conformity, Leo is left alone and lonely. The last chapter shows him grown, living by himself, citing the changes in the high school ("Today's Electron marching band is probably the only one in Arizona with a ukulele") and living each day remembering Stargirl and wondering if he will ever have another chance. 2000, Knopf, $15.95. Ages 10 up.
Christopher Moning (Children's Literature)The new girl at Mica Area High School--MAHS for short--is unlike anyone Leo has ever encountered. She wears outlandish outfits, brings her pet rat to school, and sings "Happy Birthday" to students in the cafeteria, accompanying herself on her ukulele. Her family has no television set. She calls herself Stargirl, and no one will talk to her. Then an amazing thing happens, and the girl who everyone ignored becomes the most popular student at MAHS. Individuality awakens--nonconformity is accepted. Stargirl is the opposite of cool; she holds nothing back. And she loves Leo. Together Leo and Stargirl practice random acts of kindness, attempting to live as perhaps human beings were meant to. But when Stargirl is seen cheering for the opposing basketball team, everyone turns against her again. This time Leo is also a target of the students' hostile behavior. He tries to change Stargirl, to make her normal and popular. Magical girls are as rare as stars in the hand, and in the end, Stargirl must follow her own path, without Leo. It is a path that Leo sadly reminisces about years later. This book is a wonderful commentary on the beauty and dignity of humanity, as well as the difficulty in being unique in a society of joiners. 2000, Borzoi Books/Knopf, $17.99 and $15.95. Ages 10 up.
Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)The new girl at high school is different and full of pluck, but the other students don't know how to take her--so they shun her. The first-person narrator, Leo, is crazy about Stargirl but can't handle the ostracism, and so he starts asking her to change. Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli has created a situation familiar to teenagers and provided a thought-provoking conclusion. 2000, Knopf, $15.95. Ages 11 up.
Spinelli, J. (2000) Stargirl. New York N.Y.: Knopf
16 year old Leo is as surprised as his fellow students when Stargirl shows up the first day after summer vacation. Stargirl is totally different from the other students. She wears granny skirts and plays happy birthday on her ukulele to her fellow students. Most of the students avoid her, but Leo finds himself interested in her. The tide turns for Stargirl when she goes out onto the football field at halftime to cheer the team on which brings the crowds out for the next game. Now she is popular and almost everyone likes her and many imitate her. Leo finally admits he likes her and they become a couple. Things are going great until she runs to help a basketball player from the opposing team when he is injured during the game. The basketball team loses the next game and the students blame Stargirl's concern for other team players for the loss. Little by little the students begin to shun her and Leo. Stargirl doesn't realize what is happening, but Leo begins to notice the shunning and convinces Stargirl she needs to change. Stargirl changes her appearance and behavior for Leo, but when the students still shun her after her victory at the speech competition, she reverts back to her Stargirl image. Leo cannot handle the shunning, and he and Stargirl break up. Stargirl moves away after making a final dazzling appearance at the prom. This book might give a teen-age student who doesn't fit into the norm some encouragement.
Reviews:
Ilene Cooper (Booklist, June 1 & 15, 2000 (Vol. 96, No. 19 & 20))Sixteen-year-old Leo recounts Stargirl's sojourn at Mica High in an allegorical story that is engagingly written but overreaches. Everyone notices Stargirl when she comes to school. She wears a granny gown, strums a ukulele, and sings "Happy Birthday" to kids in the cafeteria. She also carries around a pet rat. Her classmates veer between ignoring her and being discreetly fascinated by her weirdness--dancing when there's no music, speaking in class of trolls and stars. Slowly, Stargirl attracts a following, especially after she gives a spellbinding speech in an oratorical contest and singlehandly stirs up school spirit. But her intense popularity is short-lived as, predictably, the teens turn on her. Leo is attracted by Stargirl and her penchant for good works. But just about the time they get together, the rest of the school is shunning her, and to his confusion and despair, Leo eventually turns his back on Stargirl, too. Spinelli firmly captures the high-school milieu, here heightened by the physical and spiritual barrenness of an Arizona location, a new town where people come to work for technology companies and the school team is called the Electrons. Dialogue, plot, and supporting cast are strong: the problem here is Stargirl herself. She may have been homeschooled, may not have seen much TV, but despite her name, she has lived on planet earth for 15 years, and her naivete is overplayed and annoying. When Leo tells her that not everyone likes having somebody with a ukulele sing "Happy Birthday" to them, she is shocked. That she has not noticed she is being shunned is unbelievable, and, at times, readers may feel more sympathy for the bourgeois teens than the earnest, kind, magical Stargirl. That's too bad, because Spinelli's point about the lure and trap of normalcy is a good one. But to make it real, Stargirl needed to have at least one foot on the ground. Category: Older Readers. 2000, Knopf, $15.95 and $17.99. Gr. 6-9.
Susie Wilde (Children's Literature)In Spinelli's newest novel, Stargirl, the character matches standards he has previously set. Stargirl is the main character of the novel. And that is her real name...at least temporarily, for she is given to changing her name to match her current philosophical and personality bent. When the viewpoint character, Leo Borlock, sees her for the first time he notices her huge eyes that look like deer's eyes caught in headlights. And this is an appropriate image when Stargirl enters a public high school that is not exactly a hotbed of nonconformity. It is not just appearance that makes her so different--Stargirl embodies the random-acts-of-kindness approach to life and can not understand the us/them divisions so crucial to high school life. Most of the school turns against Stargirl, who becomes a cheerleader and applauds both teams. This special brand of cheering first brought the team success, but when they fail, she is the obvious scapegoat. Leo, the boy who tells the story, falls in love with Stargirl despite trying to resist. He is swept into a painful conflict. Should he let himself be who he really is and love her, or continue his comfortable, conformist existence? Stargirl, who loves him back, tries to conform but the results are disastrous. Most of Spinelli's books have an underlying theme of conformity. In Stargirl the theme becomes the plot and its effects are devastating. When Stargirl is driven out of town by the cruelties of conformity, Leo is left alone and lonely. The last chapter shows him grown, living by himself, citing the changes in the high school ("Today's Electron marching band is probably the only one in Arizona with a ukulele") and living each day remembering Stargirl and wondering if he will ever have another chance. 2000, Knopf, $15.95. Ages 10 up.
Christopher Moning (Children's Literature)The new girl at Mica Area High School--MAHS for short--is unlike anyone Leo has ever encountered. She wears outlandish outfits, brings her pet rat to school, and sings "Happy Birthday" to students in the cafeteria, accompanying herself on her ukulele. Her family has no television set. She calls herself Stargirl, and no one will talk to her. Then an amazing thing happens, and the girl who everyone ignored becomes the most popular student at MAHS. Individuality awakens--nonconformity is accepted. Stargirl is the opposite of cool; she holds nothing back. And she loves Leo. Together Leo and Stargirl practice random acts of kindness, attempting to live as perhaps human beings were meant to. But when Stargirl is seen cheering for the opposing basketball team, everyone turns against her again. This time Leo is also a target of the students' hostile behavior. He tries to change Stargirl, to make her normal and popular. Magical girls are as rare as stars in the hand, and in the end, Stargirl must follow her own path, without Leo. It is a path that Leo sadly reminisces about years later. This book is a wonderful commentary on the beauty and dignity of humanity, as well as the difficulty in being unique in a society of joiners. 2000, Borzoi Books/Knopf, $17.99 and $15.95. Ages 10 up.
Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)The new girl at high school is different and full of pluck, but the other students don't know how to take her--so they shun her. The first-person narrator, Leo, is crazy about Stargirl but can't handle the ostracism, and so he starts asking her to change. Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli has created a situation familiar to teenagers and provided a thought-provoking conclusion. 2000, Knopf, $15.95. Ages 11 up.
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