Stargirl
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Copyright: 2000
Pages: 186
Reading Level: 6
Genre: Teen Books
Rating: ****

Summary:
Mica High is a high school where everyone pretty much dresses the same, act the same, and does nothing to stand out, that is until Stargirl shows up. From the moment she steps on campus everyone is talking about her. They want to know who the girl with the strange clothes is, why she doesn’t wear makeup, is her name really Stargirl? Everyone-including Leo Borlock. Stargirl is strange, she doesn’t do the normal things, and she doesn’t care. She is completely comfortable in her own skin. The thing about Stargirl that makes her the most unique though is not her clothes or her pet rat Cinnamon, but that everything she does is for others. She knows everyone’s birthday and sings to them, she hands out valentines to her whole homeroom, and more. In the beginning no one talks to her. She sits at a lunch table all by herself, but one day things start to change. And the more things she does (the outlandish things) the more popular she becomes. From dancing around the football field at half time to joining the cheer team, everyone wants to be Stargirls friend, and Leo, he watches from the side lines. The thing about Stargirl though is, she cares about everyone, not just her own school. So when for the first time in the history of ever, the school’s basketball team has the chance to go to state, every begins to get mad because not only does she cheer where they make a basket, but where the other team does a well. The final straw though, is when she goes to help care for an injured player on the opposition’s team. And then the school is against her. She is kicked off the cheer team, and no one will speak to her, except Leo and Dori. In the beginning Leo is just dazed by his love for her, but then he begings to hate the fact that she dresses weird, and doesn’t care what others think, he just wants her to be normal. Being the girl she is, and the love she has for Leo, one day she shows up, and instead of Stargirl, she is now Susan, an ordinary girl. Despite her change though, no one will still talk to her, and she goes back to being Stargirl. And it is at this point that Leo makes his choice that Archie (an old professor and teacher to all the kids in the area) told him he had to make all along, he had to choose who he loved more, what she thought or what they thought. In the end Leo chooses everyone else. He doesn’t take her to the dance, nor talk to her. This doesn’t stop her though. She shows up to that dance…and she dances. She dances all by herself, until finally one guy asks her to dance, they everyone gives in. And suddenly everything is back to how it was before the basketball fiesta, she is popular again and everyone is following her in the bunny hop. After that night, no one sees her again. In the end though, Leo goes back and visits Archie, and he talks about her. He finds that Macia High is not the same, there is now a group devoted to doing things for other, and at the high school reunions they always do the bunny hop. He realizes how stupid he was. He never hears from Stargirl, nor knows where she is but one year on his birthday years and year later he gets a gift in the mail, a porcupine tie.

Who would benefit from reading this?
Middle school kids need this book the most! Everyone in middle school is so pressured to fit in, and this is a book that lets you know it is okay to be different! Anyone that knows how the world is , and how much we are pressured to be just like everyone else would enjoy this book. It is different, but one that you will enjoy.

Potential problems/conflicts:
There is lots of cruelty from other students, but nothing more than you see every day in middle and high schools across the globe. Also there is the relationship of Leo and Stargirl, but nothing inappropriate happens, though some might not like the fact that this promotes high school relationships.

My reaction:
I won’t lie, when I started reading this book I thought it was a little weird, I wasn’t quite sure where the author was going with it. But now that I have read it all it hold so many great messages. That it is okay to be different. We are each unique, and it is okay. Stargirl shows us all the things that really matter. That isn’t being popular or the things most think are so important in the middle and high school years, the thing that is important is accepting everyone for whole they are, and just being nice! We can all learn a thing or two or seven from Stargirl.