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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. It's hard not to fall in love with Stargirl. She waltzes into Mica High in fanciful clothes,strumming a ukulele and singing songs about triangles in math class. She breaks all the social rules and makes friends with everyone, no matter what group they belong to. Completely original and unconventional, she practices random acts of kindness. No wonder Leo falls for her. Just as she has won over the entire school, she breaks one unbreakable rule and they all turn on her. Leo, caught between his friends and his love for Stargirl, comes up with the wrong solution to his problem -- he asks her to be normal. Stargirl is a charming story about the importance of being true to yourself. Sixth and seventh graders enjoy it, even though the main characters are high school age. The sequel, Love, Stargirl, was disappointing. Reviewed by Sharon Grover in School Library Journal (August 2000). Found in Follett Titlewave. I just got done listening to the audiobook Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I like books that make you smile at the end. :-) Stargirl is the new girl in school – new and incredibly different. For one, she goes by the name “Stargirl.” She doesn’t dress or act the same as the other kids (as a cheerleader, she cheers even when the other team scores a point). She’s always doing things for other people and rarely cares what anyone else thinks of her. Until she meets Leo, that is. This story is all about finding yourself and sticking to who you really are. It’s funny, intelligent, and heartwarming, and, best of all, comes recommended by me! This was a book that I delayed reading because I just wasn’t interested enough to take the time to read it. The audiobook format works great for books like this because I can have them done in a matter of hours while I’m doing other things. I love multitasking! 4 out of 5 stars because it’s not my favorite, but it’s still really good. I suffered from huge spoilers reading this, as I read //Love Stargirl// first. Even with that, I found the Stargirl in this book pretty annoying. And knowing exactly what would happen in the end might have cast a pall over the story. I just didn't like it as much as the sequel. I'd give this to someone looking for a quirky romance. no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0440416779, Mass Market Paperback)"She was homeschooling gone amok." "She was an alien." "Her parents were circus acrobats." These are only a few of the theories concocted to explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of nonconformity," is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator Leo Borlock: "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."In time, incredulity gives way to out-and-out adoration as the student body finds itself helpless to resist Stargirl's wide-eyed charm, pure-spirited friendliness, and penchant for celebrating the achievements of others. In the ultimate high school symbol of acceptance, she is even recruited as a cheerleader. Popularity, of course, is a fragile and fleeting state, and bit by bit, Mica sours on their new idol. Why is Stargirl showing up at the funerals of strangers? Worse, why does she cheer for the opposing basketball teams? The growing hostility comes to a head when she is verbally flogged by resentful students on Leo's televised Hot Seat show in an episode that is too terrible to air. While the playful, chin-held-high Stargirl seems impervious to the shunning that ensues, Leo, who is in the throes of first love (and therefore scornfully deemed "Starboy"), is not made of such strong stuff: "I became angry. I resented having to choose. I refused to choose. I imagined my life without her and without them, and I didn't like it either way." Jerry Spinelli, author of Newbery Medalist Maniac Magee, Newbery Honor Book Wringer, and many other excellent books for teens, elegantly and accurately captures the collective, not-always-pretty emotions of a high school microcosm in which individuality is pitted against conformity. Spinelli's Stargirl is a supernatural teen character--absolutely egoless, altruistic, in touch with life's primitive rhythms, meditative, untouched by popular culture, and supremely self-confident. It is the sensitive Leo whom readers will relate to as he grapples with who she is, who he is, who they are together as Stargirl and Starboy, and indeed, what it means to be a human being on a planet that is rich with wonders. (Ages 10 to 14) --Karin Snelson (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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Just as she has won over the entire school, she breaks one unbreakable rule and they all turn on her. Leo, caught between his friends and his love for Stargirl, comes up with the wrong solution to his problem -- he asks her to be normal.
Stargirl is a charming story about the importance of being true to yourself. Sixth and seventh graders enjoy it, even though the main characters are high school age.
The sequel, Love, Stargirl, was disappointing