Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

book data

13,578 ratings, 3.89 average rating, 2,489 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		33%
4		34%
3		22%
2		7%
1		2%

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published

2000 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

binding

Paperback, 188 pages

characters

Stargirl Caraway, Leo Borlock

setting

The United States

isbn

0439488400 (isbn13: 9780439488402)

description

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She...more

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07/25/08

Karen rated it:

Read in July, 2008

Very sweet. I had this book lying around and picked it up to give myself a break from the Holocaust Monster I've been chipping away at for the past month, and it definitely did the trick. The kids seem a little innocent - more like elementary school than high school - but dammit why CAN'T there be beautiful and magical teenagers who hold hands at the movies and give their friends cupcakes and valentines? Why do they have to do drugs and have sex and be JERKS all the time?

Like this review? yes (18 people liked it)

4 comments

03/17/08

Michael rated it:

Read in November, 2007

For some weird reason I couldn't put this book down! You should read it. It grabbed my attention and I am a very picky reader! :)

Like this review? yes (11 people liked it)

7 comments

05/18/08

Karen rated it:

Read in April, 2008

There are too many things wrong with this story. First of all, nonconformity for nonconformity's sake is not necessarily a good thing. Sure, we should not judge people who don't jump on the Abercrombie wagon. We shouldn't care if a girl want to dress hippy-style. We should applaud people who show sportsmanlike conduct.

But why do we need to applaud people's outrageous behavior, especially when it borders on staulking? Creepy.

I love that Stargirl stood for some good ...more

Like this review? yes (13 people liked it)

5 comments

05/18/07

Emma rated it:

(review of isbn 0440416779)

Read in June, 2005

recommends it for: anyone who believes life should be magical

Okay, I'm going to say it. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a young adult classic (maybe even a children's classic but that's really a cataloguing issue that I am ill-equipped to discuss). This designation raises the question: What makes a book (any book) a classic? For me it means a book that is timeless; something you can read years and years after it was written without the book losing its vibrancy. A classic also needs to have memorable writing and characters. It needs to speak to the reader. I...more Okay, I'm going to say it. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a young adult classic (maybe even a children's classic but that's really a cataloguing issue that I am ill-equipped to discuss). This designation raises the question: What makes a book (any book) a classic? For me it means a book that is timeless; something you can read years and years after it was written without the book losing its vibrancy. A classic also needs to have memorable writing and characters. It needs to speak to the reader. It needs to be a book that you enjoy more every time you read it or talk about it. Classics are the books you want to immerse yourself in: the books you wish you could live in with the characters that you wish were your friends.

I'll say it again: Stargirl is a classic.

The story starts with Leo Borlock, who moved to Mica, Arizona at the age of twelve. Around the time of his move, Leo decided to start collecting porcupine neckties--no easy task, especially in Mica. For two years, Leo's collection stood at one tie. Until his fourteenth birthday when an unknown someone presented Leo with his second tie, someone who was watching from the sidelines.

Mica's unusual events don't stop there. The story continues when Leo is a junior in high school. On the first day the name on everyone's lips is Stargirl. Formerly home-schooled, Stargirl is a sophomore like no one Leo (or any of the other Mica students) has ever met before:

"She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew."

After finishing this book and recently reading Love, Stargirl (Spinelli's newly released sequel), I have my own explanation: Stargirl is magical. She represents the kind of magic more people need in their lives: to appreciate the little things, to dare to be different, to be kind to strangers. The kind of magic where you still believe things can be wondrous.

In the story, Leo soon realizes that Stargirl might be someone he could love.

Unfortunately, high school students don't always believe in (or appreciate) magic like Stargirl's. As the school moves from fascination to adoration and, finally, to disdain Leo finds himself in an impossible position: forced to choose between the girl he loves and his entire lifestyle.

Technically speaking I love everything about this book: the characters, the story, the cover art. This one has the full package. Spinelli's writing throughout the story is perfect. He captures Leo's fascination with Stargirl as well as his equivocation as he is forced to choose between Stargirl and "the crowd."

Stargirl is not a long book. The writing is cogent, sentences brief. Nonetheless, the text is rich. This book never gets old or boring. Spinelli creates a compelling, utterly new narrative here (with a charmingly memorable heroine). (less)

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03/08/08

Jared rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, young-adult

Read in January, 2004

recommended to Jared by: Kim
recommends it for: anyone

Stargirl is an amazing book about individuality and nonconformism. A home-schooled girl named Stargirl begins attending the public high school for her sophomore year. Stargirl is different.

She learns everybody's birthdays and on the day of, she sings them a happy birthday song -- accompanying herself on the ukulele -- in the middle of the lunch room, whether they want her to or not. She watches a young boy who lives across the street so that she can create a scrapbook for him with...more

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08/15/07

Hannah rated it:

Read in May, 2003

Guh. First of all, just because someone wears an outfit with ants glued in a line crawling up one side, and down the other, doesn't mean they're an original person. It just means they're a person with an original outfit.

Stargirl is supposed to be about a girl who is the epitome of original. Having been homeschooled her entire life, she comes to a public school and baffles everyone by her clothes. Clothes! Nothing more.

Then this boy, the narrator of the story, fa...more

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1 comment

06/11/08

Talia rated it:

bookshelves: audio-books, ya-fiction

Read in June, 2008

Stargirl Caraway is the new girl at Mica Area High School, and in her mysterious first days of school, she reveals herself to be a true unique individual. She plays a ukalele! She carries around a pet rat! She gives little gifts and cards to people she doesn't know! Soon, all of the high school cannot resist her charm, and she has the entire community under her spell. But after a while, Stargirl's actions become tiresome, irritating, and the question rises among her peers: why can't she just be ...more

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05/12/08

Jennifer Wardrip rated it:

(review of isbn 0440416779)

bookshelves: gold-star-award, personal-read, trt-reviews

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Stargirl Caraway is an enigma. She's the type of girl that you either love or hate--with no room for any emotions in between. When she first comes to the high-school as a sophomore in small town Mica, Arizona, her name reverberates throughout the hallways. What kind of a name is Stargirl? Was she really home-schooled for all these years, or did she just magically appear in Mica? How can she seem so calm, so serene, why eating quietly alone in the lu...more Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Stargirl Caraway is an enigma. She's the type of girl that you either love or hate--with no room for any emotions in between. When she first comes to the high-school as a sophomore in small town Mica, Arizona, her name reverberates throughout the hallways. What kind of a name is Stargirl? Was she really home-schooled for all these years, or did she just magically appear in Mica? How can she seem so calm, so serene, why eating quietly alone in the lunchroom, then strumming her ukulele as if all alone?

The boys in school are immediately struck by her quiet, unassuming beauty. The girls are both jealous of her innate naturalness and excited to have her enthusiasm in the school. For Leo Borlock, it's a mixture of fear and excitement that has him falling in love with the mysterious Stargirl--and a desire to see her on the Hot Seat, the in-school television show he runs with his best friend, Kevin.

The kids at school embrace Stargirl--her quirkiness, her individuality, her enthusiasm and exuberance for everything she does. She discovers friends and cheerleading, and she's popular. Popular, that is, until she starts rooting for the opposition, determined to bring joy and happiness to everyone, not just her home team. Suddenly, she's not the popular girl that everyone wants to be around. The same individuality that was once embraced is now snubbed, literally, by almost everyone in school. Except for Leo, who's in love with the enigmatic Stargirl, a girl who whole-heartedly loves him back.

Until Leo is forced to choose between the affections of an entire school full of classmates and the maybe-too-individual Stargirl. When faced with the choice of one person versus many, Leo might not be strong enough to make the right decision.

Jerry Spinelli has penned a book that goes straight to the heart of wanting to fit in, of sometimes being too good to believe, of life and love and heartbreak and the desire to be different, yet the same as everyone else. STARGIRL is a pure delight, and you won't be able to help being drawn into this very believable story, and it's truly unbelievable characters. (less)

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03/20/08

Stephanie rated it:

Read in March, 2008

It started with a necktie. It ended with a necktie. But not just any kind of necktie and not just any kind of girl would give someone a gift with pictures of porcupines.

I really loved this book. REALLY! I did. I HEART Stargirl. Seriously. I’d been meaning to read it for years and like the last book I devoured, after reading the first 2 pages, I couldn’t put it down; so the other books I’d started before this one got pushed aside so I could get lost in her world. This boo...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

1 comment

01/29/08

Marta rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, favourites

Read in January, 2008

Spoilers Throughout: This is a beautiful, brilliant and stunning story. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It made me so happy. The ending is quite perfect, or as perfect as it could've been.

Synopsis: The story centers on a new 10th grade student at Mica Area High School in Arizona: Stargirl Caraway, an eccentric and compassionate non-conformist vegetarian who has spent her previous years in homeschooling. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock narrates. Between the story and the epi...more Spoilers Throughout: This is a beautiful, brilliant and stunning story. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It made me so happy. The ending is quite perfect, or as perfect as it could've been.

Synopsis: The story centers on a new 10th grade student at Mica Area High School in Arizona: Stargirl Caraway, an eccentric and compassionate non-conformist vegetarian who has spent her previous years in homeschooling. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock narrates. Between the story and the epilogue, the narrator implies that twenty years have elapsed, and the references imply that the novel is set in the 1980s.

It's written in a simplistic and straight-forward manner, but out of nowhere, Spinelli bursts out with a stunning metaphor. That's partly why I can't classify it as merely a children's book, because it has such poetic language contrasted with the matter-of-fact verse. In itself, the language can be viewed to mirror the world of Mica Area High School and Stargirl herself.

She was illusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to a corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew.

Stargirl cares and believes in people. That's the underpinning strength throughout all of Stargirl's actions. I think this was the very bit of her that I found disbelieving or "out-of-this-world" - she seemed to have some supernatural gifts which allowed her to know everything about people. Her naivety (at first, I got the impression she was supernatural, magical, or beyond her years, at th every least - really, she's naive, but it's beautiful, ignorant naivety shining through) is beautiful and prescious.

You do grow to like Leo (the protagonist), despite his entire anonymous presence. You know very little of him from the beginning to the end, aside form his own connection with Stargirl via a necktie. In the end, you can't blame him from wanting Stargfirl to change, as opposed to accepting her, like, perhaps, many of us would do. I can empathise.

It's a very original story. Susan reinvents herself; she is noncomformity, individuality and freedom. Being homeschooled allowed her to grow up without the shado wof other people's opinions, without the awareness of other people's influence on her life, decisions and world. She's very happy this way. As I read more into the book, a wanting to be like Stargirl grew. But than the opposing thought formed; it made me realise that being so closed off to the world is maybe not the best idea, despite good intentions. It caused Stargirl to hurt, rather than feel welcomed into the Mica Area High School. I'm therefore not blaming Leo as the reason Stargirl was no longer wanted, or for his own dissociation with her.

I highly recommend this book.(less)

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10/15/07

Jenny rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: friends

This book is about a weird girl called Stargirl. She is weird because she does a lot of things that people don't normally do. Even her name is weird.

Let me tell you about a few of the weird things she does. Firstly she takes photos of people without them knowing. She stalks them and secretly takes their photos. Then she makes a photo album and gives it to them when they get older.

The other weird thing she does is to wear clothes that do not fit her. She usually wears lo...more

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09/27/08

BATMAN rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2005

recommended to BATMAN by: a person who didnt deserve a neck so they could make me read thi
recommends it for: poeple who want a reason to cut them selves

if this book was a person i would kill them. i would kill them in front of there mother and make them swallow there own heart. it showed a sad message that HAS BENN PLAYED OUT OVER AND OVER again. if you were locked in a box and told not to look at sun light for 12 years this book might be refreashing if not then dont bother. simply it was so crappy. here is the WHOLE STORY i'll save you time well she is differnt meets kids and then marginalized and then surprisingly becomes not differnt. here i...more

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2 comments

12/17/08

Jasmine rated it:

bookshelves: own

Read in January, 2009

it was refreshing to read about stargirl's genuine kindness and individuality. i liked it.

we want to dance to the music in our own heads, but we don't because of the looks, whispers and stares we'd get.

stargirl is the person we all want to be, while leo reminds us of the person most of us are.

i hope one day to be as brave as stargirl

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13 comments

02/17/09

Theodora rated it:

Read in February, 2009

Review- Others would like this book for many reasons, such as how interesting and the amount of individually in the loving & vulgar characters. From the very sore beginning and the sad but sweet ending, I enjoyed it every much. All the words made into sentences that formed into paragraphs and final came together to make a magical, captivating and enchanting short novel Others might think differently but the characters to me were not real, but just a blink of an eye away from being similar to the...more

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01/26/09

Annalisa rated it:

bookshelves: book-club, young-adult

Read in January, 2009

recommended to Annalisa by: Rosa
recommends it for: looking for a quick/light read

Truthfully I did not expect to like this book. I expected a heavily handed tale about acceptance. But here's the thing: I did not like Star Girl.

The story is about a free-spirited girl whose named herself Star Girl who shows up for her first year of public education as a sophomore and the typical apathetic student body doesn't quite know how to respond to her. Normally when I read stories about the quirky outcast, I want to shield them from cruelty of the popular crowd, but I found ...more Truthfully I did not expect to like this book. I expected a heavily handed tale about acceptance. But here's the thing: I did not like Star Girl.

The story is about a free-spirited girl whose named herself Star Girl who shows up for her first year of public education as a sophomore and the typical apathetic student body doesn't quite know how to respond to her. Normally when I read stories about the quirky outcast, I want to shield them from cruelty of the popular crowd, but I found myself sympathizing with students at a loss of how to interpret this strange girl. When Hillari told Star Girl that she ruined everything, I concurred. And when Star Girl equated being normal with the most popular girl in school I sighed heavily at how little she understood the workings of high school friendship. It never was about blending in and finding common ground with her. She wasn't happy unless she was blazing her own trail without consciousness of who she plowed through in the process.

Having too much personal experience with people who don't understand social cues or possess the mental valve to filter, I know what it's like to be embarrassed by people on social thin ice. I didn't find Star Girl a rare charming bird that should be bottled unaltered. I found her disrespectful and obnoxious. OK, her goodwill was charming, but interrupting a football game to climb the goal post or showing up at a funeral and interfering with the grieving is not. Being different is one thing, but interfering with other's choice to follow social guidelines is just as unaccepting as those who shun anyone who doesn't follow the crowd. There has to be a balance between keeping your individuality and allowing other's to chose theirs, as well as respecting the social proprieties that make people feel comfortable.

I found myself siding with the crowd and I know had I met a girl like that in high school I would have rolled my eyes at her theatrics and ignored her too refusing to allow her to always be the center of attention. I was not sad for her but angry at her for what she did to Leo. To just assume he would make a decision and not give him the means to make amends. This girl created her own drama. I have a feeling the author intended readers to be charmed by Star Girl and experience her social roller coaster on her emotional level, but I didn't. I experienced it from the conforming crowd. And that's exactly why I liked it.(less)

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09/25/08

Namz rated it:

(review of isbn 1846165997)

bookshelves: journey-within, ya-lit

Read in September, 2008

Is she an alien? Is she home-schooling gone berserk? Is she sniffing fumes? …this and many more queries surround Stargirl Caraway when she makes her appearance at Mica High. Strumming a ukulele, carrying a rat called Cinnamon in her canvas bag and wearing clothes ranging from pioneer gowns to kimonos she’s as strange as they come. Add to that the fact that she does the weirdest, kindest and friendliest things. She sings birthday songs to perfect strangers, drops loose change accidentally on ...more Is she an alien? Is she home-schooling gone berserk? Is she sniffing fumes? …this and many more queries surround Stargirl Caraway when she makes her appearance at Mica High. Strumming a ukulele, carrying a rat called Cinnamon in her canvas bag and wearing clothes ranging from pioneer gowns to kimonos she’s as strange as they come. Add to that the fact that she does the weirdest, kindest and friendliest things. She sings birthday songs to perfect strangers, drops loose change accidentally on purpose for l’il kids to pick up, dances in the rain and laughs over no joke in particular!!

For the dull-as-ditchwater student body, she is something that they cannot grasp. Indefinable, quirky and kooky. But her eccentricity weaves its way into their hearts and they are soon doing selfless gestures of their own. Especially enamored is the 16-year old narrator Leo Borlock. A wary reluctance on Leo’s part gives way to mutual attraction. Soon they are a couple and he faces a lot of ribbing (not always good-natured)……even being termed as Starboy!

Stargirl is selected to be a cheerleader …and she does so in the truest sense the word. She cheers unabashedly for her team, the spectators…and then she goes one step further and cheers for the other team too. This sours things drastically and Stargirl’s glorious run takes a downward curve.

Admiration quickly gives way to hostility. The now openly shunned Stargirl is unaffected, but Leo suffers the backlash too. He is not used to be treated as an invisible entity. He attempts to change his girlfriend..make her more normal, run-of-the-mill. And she does change....for him. She even takes up her original name: Sarah Julia Caraway. But the antagonism never wanes, …and soon she reverts to her old self……her old, unique, individual self.

The beauty of this book lies in the prose. Simple and lyrical, it conveys an age-old message in the purest way possible. Stargirl Caraway may appear to be a ditzy bohemian girl…a throwback to the 70s Flower-Power era even. But her thoughts are clear, concise and loaded with truth, which is not always easy to swallow. Even Leo at the height of his young love described her most accurately: “She was bendable light: she shone around every corner of my day” .

She takes Leo (and us) into a world that can be good, kind and uncomplicated…..if we only tried, without fear of mockery and recrimination.

It's a tale about well-intentioned non-conformity. A tale about holding your own in a sea of similar faces. A tale about being a fruit-loop in a box of cheerios!
(less)

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04/19/08

Mary rated it:

bookshelves: lis-565, realistic-fict-chap

Read in April, 2008

Poor Leo, a junior in high school is dumbfounded by the new girl. She comes to school with a rat in her purse, plays the ukulele, sings in the cafeteria, decorates her desk with a tablecloth and flowers, takes over the football field from the team, and well, is simply strange. But Leo is drawn to this girl, the self-named Stargirl; her behavior and his reaction to it will change them and all of the student body. Jerry Spinelli has built strong characters in Stargirl, ones you won't soon forge...more

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04/05/08

Anna rated it:

(review of isbn 0440416779)

bookshelves: fiction, young-adult

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: young adults

This was my first Jerry Spinelli read and for the most part I enjoyed it. I'd give it 3.5 stars if that was possible. :)

I can see why kids like his writing style, which is simple and straightforward, yet interesting. The issues he tackles in this book -- identity, conformity/nonconformity, and peer pressure -- are all relevant for middle school-aged readers, which is who this book is best suited for. Also, I think he does a good job of sending the "right" message without ...more

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03/15/08

Kari rated it:

bookshelves: young-adult

Read in March, 2008

This is the first Spinelli book I read. It's no wonder he's popular among children and youth... it's sort of hard to put the book down! The desert setting, nostalgic point of view, cast a romantic spell. The book paints a reminiscent ideal of a tight-knit, connected American community, contrasted against a suburban cinnabon eating culture. It turns out that community is a naive construct in Stargirl's mind that has to face the harsh reality of rejection when she enters public school. It is abou...more This is the first Spinelli book I read. It's no wonder he's popular among children and youth... it's sort of hard to put the book down! The desert setting, nostalgic point of view, cast a romantic spell. The book paints a reminiscent ideal of a tight-knit, connected American community, contrasted against a suburban cinnabon eating culture. It turns out that community is a naive construct in Stargirl's mind that has to face the harsh reality of rejection when she enters public school. It is about a real "culture warrior", Stargirl, who cares about and loves her community, even if it doesn't really exist, doesn't love her back, and becomes openly hateful toward her. The book treads this difficult line between idealistic perservation for the reality you seek to build and the actual reality of competitive, fear based culture.

At the same time, none of the characters are well-developed... yet the story somehow is. I think it's Spinelli's writing style.

I think the book could be valuable for thinking about how some people do or do not "get" other people. Nonconformists might find a hero/understanding in Stargirl, the middle crowd might be moved to realize that for some people, it is really hard to understand how to make connections with people. I read somewhere that an entire school or district was required to read this book, to the disgust of some students. I doubt it would turn any school into a suddenly tolerant oasis, particularly because the characters are flat. I would say the book would be good mainly for the young person who doesn't fit in, that it does well at acknowledging common feelings around social exclusion.

Although I like the humorous portrayal of mainstream and the sympathetic treatment of an issue dear to me, I finish it feeling that I wouldn't want to use it as a teacher. I would hope for somehow better. But I might change my mind on this, or at least recommend the book to some young people for its interesting treatment of ideas around community and connection.

Spinelli's writing is simple yet captivating. I'm sure I'll get to read more of his books in the future. (less)

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03/04/08

Robin rated it:

bookshelves: teen---ya

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: teenagers or children finding their way in this world

Stargirl is a story of Susan (aka Stargirl) who has been homeschooled for the majority of her life. She makes her way into Mica High and is not deemed normal by other kids. She arrives at school in costume-like outfits, plays her ukulele for students celebrating a birthday, takes her pet rat Cinnamon everywhere. The student body doesn't quite know what to make of her. For one student, Leo Borlock, Stargirl is mesmerizing and intriguing. Eventually the student body embraces her individuality and ...more

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