Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
ISBN 0-679-88637-0
186 pages
Alfred A. Knopf, 2000

Genre: Contemporary Life

Readers Annotation
When Stargirl enrolls in an Arizona high school, at first the student body embraces her eccentric ways. Soon, though, they turn against her, and the narrator Leo urges Stargirl to conform.

Plot Summary
Leo is a student at a high school in Mica, Arizona, where conformity is praised above all else. A new student named Stargirl shakes things up. She serenades classmates at lunch with her ukelele, carries a pet rat around everywhere, and performs random acts of kindness. At a football game, she's a tireless cheerleader, cheering for absolutely everyone, including the opposing team. The student body is infatuated and charmed by Stargirl's eccentricities. However, when the basketball team starts winning games, the students no longer tolerate Stargirl's penchant for cheering the opposing side. The entire student body shuns her, pretending she doesn't exist.

Leo, the narrator, is fascinated by Stargirl, and he's caught her eye, too. Hanging out with her after school, he learns that Stargirl's desire to spread love and happiness extends past the walls of the high school. She scours the newspaper for human interest stories, looking for small ways she can make perfect strangers perfectly happy. Leo is bothered by the horrible way the students treat Stargirl--perhaps more bothered by the fact that he's becoming a social outcast himself--and convinces Stargirl to try and conform more to group expectations. She shows up to school in normal clothes and starts calling herself by her given name, Susan. But can Stargirl be happy being like everybody else? Will Leo still love her if she's just like everybody else? And will everybody else even accept her as a regular student, or has she already branded herself an outsider?

Critical Evaluation
Stargirl is a short but moving work about non-conformity. This is a topic that will really resonant with young adults, who often worry both about fitting in but also about maintaining their individuality. Leo narrates the story from his perspective as an adult, so he's able to clearly articulate some important thoughts about the way that social groups work in high school. As long as Mica High School remains relatively undistinguished in sports and academics, the students are happy to accept Stargirl's message of universal love. However, as soon as the basketball team starts winning, they immediately start identifying as winners--and expecting to win--and view Stargirl's philosophy as almost traitorous.

Though Leo ultimately fails Stargirl and asks her to compromise herself for his own comfort, Spinelli is not unkind to him. He's young and doesn't realize that asking Stargirl to pretend to be someone else will spoil what he liked about her in the first place.  Stargirl's final act at school, however, is triumphant, and Leo learns his lesson. The ending shows Stargirl's lasting influence at Mica High, long after she has left, and Leo, older and wiser, wishes he had held onto their relationship. The final sentence, though, leaves some hope for their future.

Technically, Spinelli structures the book in an interesting way.  The first half of the story is told by Leo using mostly first-person plural--we did this, we did that--showing his total identification as part of the group mob. In the second half of the story, after Stargirl helps Leo find his own voice, he switches to first-person singular and is able to speak about what he specifically thought and did.

Other Books in the Series
A sequel, Love, Stargirl, told from the perspective of Stargirl, was published in 2007.

About the author
Jerry Spinelli is a Newbery-Medal winning author of books for children and young adults. He considers himself a writer for everyone, not just children, so many of his book have wide appeal for teens and adult readers, even though their protagonists are slightly younger. He has explored the issues of popularity and of being an outcast in many of his novels. Stargirl is his best known and most popular novel, and it has inspired teens at various high schools to create their own Stargirl societies.

Curriculum Ties
This philosophical little book would be a great choice to explore the issues of social dynamics, conformity, and individuality.

Booktalking Ideas
1. Talk about Stargirl's arrival at Mica High. Ask how such a character would be received at their school.
2. Explore Leo and Stargirl's relationship. Should he ask her to change, or should he just accept being an outcast himself?
3. Talk about the students' relationship with Archie, the old retired paleontologist who serves as their unofficial mentor and guru.

Challenge Issues
None

Selection Criteria
Stargirl was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and also is a New York Times bestseller.