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Loading... Stargirl (2000)by Jerry Spinelli
I gave Stargirl a VOYA rating of 5Q for quality, and 4P for popularity. Stargirl Caraway is not your run-of-the-mill teen. Home-schooled for the first half of her life she comes to Mica High and captivates Leo an 11th-grader , and leaves the entire school enchanted.. This book definitely captivated me as well. Although her individuality first sparks interest, this interest quickly turns into disdain when they can't label her. Stargirl brings up issues that teens can relate to such as: individuality, conformity, bullying, popularity, and the need to be accepted. Although this book can seem like fantasy as times this book is realistic as teens go through many issues of insecurity while in high school. I took this book as an anthem to those who march to the beat of their own ukulele. Enchanting and heartbreaking, you might recall someone in your life that resembles this teen, or those who shun the qualities that make her stand out. Either way, this book will leave a lasting impression. (  ) estradav | Jun 7, 2013 |    tauruseducation | Jun 6, 2013 | Newcomer Stargirl captures the heart of a boy in school amidst her eccentricity. Though Stargirl was able to capture the boy’s heart, her eccentric ways didn’t win the hearts of others. The boy then is caught between his love for Stargirl and his normal relationship with the rest. ( ) snapsandreads | Jun 3, 2013 | Chapter Book: No one, including Leo, had ever met anyone like stargirl. She's different, unique and special. Leo instantly falls in love. The school at first is all about Stargirl until the decide she's weird, not normal. Leo tries to help her and save her from their classmates by helping her be normal. But she teaches Leo some very important lessons. KristinPetersMoreno | May 13, 2013 | You don't know what you've got until you've lost her. ( ) heike6 | May 2, 2013 | no reviews | add a review Has as a student's study guide
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (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 Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:55:57 -0500) In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever. |
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