this is a book more for 8th graders and 7th graders it teaches about individuality and making people happy and not caring about what other people think and peer pressure ( )

Very cute story of a girl who lives life to the fullest. Stargirl is a story about a high school girl who is very different then most teenagers. She is always happy and giving to others. Stargirl sings happy birthday to people in the lunch room while playing her ukelele. The other students just look at her and just talk about how unique she is compared to others.

Stargirl goes to a football game and is the best entertainment that has been seen at the football games in a long time. While the marching band of about a dozen members marches and plays their instruments Stargirl is in the background dancing and just having fun. The teams come back out on the field and start to warm up and Stargirl warms up with them. The ref has to chase her off the field so that they can finish the game. After her performance at that game people started to attend just waiting to see her.

I would read this book again just for fun. ( )

Review by: Carissa Church.
Storyworks. New York: Oct 2006.
Vol. 14, Iss. 2; pg. 7
http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta... ( )

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. ( )

Summary: Leo tells the story of his junior year of high school. He meets Stargirl, a girl who is a completely unique and unashamed individual. He finds himself falling in love with this girl who cares more about others than herself. However, in the end he must choose between popularity and her love. Amazing book!
Media: None ( )

I read this in a single day of laziness. Though full of memorable characters - Archie, Stargirl - the story itself is kind of cliche: new student at school acts weird, stirs up the other students, leaves. This is not to say that it's a bad story. It's well-written and thought-provoking; it may just not translate as well to adults. I have no doubt that I would have found it perfectly charming when I was 14. I hope the next person who reads it enjoys it as well. ( )

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. ( )

In Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, 10th grader Stargirl Cawaway certainly marches to the beat of her own drum - a dangerous pastime for any high school student. Kimono wearing, ukulele playing Stargirl is a charming and friendly character who dances when there is no music and laughs when there are no jokes.

I wish I could have been as brave and altruistic as Spinelli's titular heroine when I was in high school. Stargirl is a true individual, and the kind of girl I want to grow up to be one day!

Stargirl is a great story with a wonderful ending. Delightfully touching and humorous, I dare you not to learn a lesson about individuality and conformity when you read Stargirl. ( )

I found this whole book obnoxious in the same way I find all these 'Patch Adams'-style stories... some 'free spirit' makes everyone cluck in disapproval until they realize they wish they could be just like her. Well, I don't want to be like her. And I don't think one has to wear daisies in one's hair to be a nonconformist, nor do I think nonconformity is something to admire for its own sake. Oh, and I know she does nice things for people, but half of these 'nice things' were actually 'sort of creepy things' that would make a lot of people feel violated. ( )

I loved this novel! It speaks volumes for the importance of being an individual and how difficult that is in high school. ( )

Stargirl is a new student at an Arizona high school. She is so totally herself that the other students don't know what to do with her. She wears outrageous clothes, serenades students with her ukulele on their birthdays, and commits random acts of kindness. At first, everyone thinks she's strange, then the whole school, including the narrator, 16 year old Leo, come under her spell. Suddenly, Stargirl is the most popular girl in school. Leo falls in love with Stargirl, but when the tide of popularity begins to turn against her, he struggles with his conscience - is he brave enough to stand with Stargirl and be different or will he bow to peer pressure and abandon her?

My favorite scene is the amazing bunny hop dance near the end. I wanted to cheer and cry at the same time. I think we all need a bit of Stargirl in our lives!

Short, quick, heartwarming read. Highly recommended. ( )

I have recently reread Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, for the fourth time. Every single time I read this book, I wonder at how amazingly influential and inspiring it is. In a way it has played a small role in shaping who I am, and I can always find solace amoung it's pages. Stargirl is everything I aspire to be, and albeit claims that say she is merely the stuff of fiction, I'm holding out hope that someday she will become literally real in my life.
Stargirl is the very essence of positive humanity. She thinks of the entire world before she thinks of herself, and she completely and totally lacks inhibition. She sings the world birthdays songs, and pays such total attention to those who go unnoticed. She does exactly what she feels and she is, in one word, brilliant.
I decided to revisit Stargirl, because I realized that in the novel she is a sophmore in high school, and right now I am at the exact same place. I wanted to see if I related to the story and more vividly now that we have that in common. I was thrilled to find that I grabbed even more from Spinelli's novel this time around. I am completely and totally in love with the tale. ( )

This is one of the best books I've read in awhile. Stargirl is truly one of a kind, going beyond her name! This is a story of what it would really be like if more people were true to themselves instead of changing who you are, what you believe in, and what you do to fit in. The character of Stargirl will become the desire of every reader's heart- if only everyone could live life like her. What becomes of the love story between Stargirl and the narrator, Leo, is a beautiful story of following your heart, even when its uncomfortable. ( )

A good example of realistic fiction because at almost every school there are different crowds, different social norms, and those students who do not fit into the walls of what a normal student would be. A new student enters a high school that already has fairly uniform students, all fitting perfectly into their social structure. However, this student, Stargirl, is incredibly different from any other student this school had ever seen. She is happy, kind to everyone, plays the ukulele, has a pet rat, gives everyone presents on their desks, and sings to them on their birthdays. She seems to have some sort of understanding about the world that others are lacking; or she is just insane. At first everyone is curious. Then when the basketball team actually starts winning games, Stargirl cheers for not only her high school, but for anyone who scores a point. She simply loves supporting people. When someone gets hurt, she hurts for them. When someone is happy, she is happy for them. However, cheering for the other team upsets her peers and they decide to shun her, and eventually her boyfriend, Lou, who narrates the story. Lou confronts Stargirl about being more like everyone else so they like her. She makes big changes and they still do not like her. When no one supports her and her success with winning the state speech contest, she goes back to her old self and breaks people's shuns when she leads the bunny hop at a school dance. This book sends a great message to youth about being who we are meant to be and not to who others wish us to conform.

Media: cover in CG ( )

We are taught from an early age to use our inner censor. That is, we are taught to hold back, to close up, to shun those things that different. We don’t question our routine and we certainly don’t think about breaking the mold. Every now and then, though, we wonder, or at least I do, what would happen if we just took off for the desert to watch the sunset, hugged a stranger who was clearly having a bad day or stood on the lunchroom table and sang at the top of our lungs.

We, of course, do not do this. Humans are inward beings, acting in accordance with the social constraints placed on us by our team mates, coworkers or fellow students, even ourselves. We are never too nice or too happy, never too outwardly emotive unless our sports team or politician is winning. We, by our nature of self preservation can not be kind to everyone because that does not further our sense of security in maintaining at least the second step above nothingness.

Jerry Spinelli captures these fears and dreams in Stargirl. His fictional Mica High School is in the middle of the Arizona desert and is about as full of life and color as its surroundings. No, this is not Stepford; no one is perfect, they are just all the same. They wander about from mediocre lunch conversation to average grades to a losing football team. They continue skimming the bottom until Stargirl appears.

Bright, eccentric, happy and adventurous, Stargirl takes the school from behind in a sneak attack. At first she is viewed as peripherally weird but is soon embraced as fun and exciting. She represents everything the students do not. She sings Happy Birthday to students she doesn’t know. She sends card to people she’s never met. She is inherently kind and thoughtful and full of exuberance. She is the Judeo-Christian “good” and the Buddhist path to enlightenment. She is the ephemeral moment in which we let go of our inhibitions, climb up on the picnic table and yell “I love you world and I’m not afraid to show it!”

Of course, there comes a moment when we realize that we have mounted said piece of furniture and look around. We realize that we are still within the confines of social mores and we clear our throat, apologize and scuttle down from the bench, running for cover. This is, inevitably what happens to Stargirl after her initial success has worn off.

Stargirl is a beautiful commentary on how we live according to ourselves and others. It is content-appropriate for middle schoolers but high schoolers and adults will undoubtedly embark on a deeper, more thought provoking journey. ( )

:) ( )

Incredible read! Stargirl takes us into a life of unpredictablitiy, hope, possibility and love. The content touches popularity--and being unpopular as well as the unseen popularity that outlasts any person. Who do you "want to be"? Who are you "acting" as? Can we really be the person we were meant to be? Teen culture examined as well as first love. ( )

My sister came home reading this book and I thought it was another one of her "Twilight" romance novels. But then I picked it up and could not put it down. It's really an amazing book about acceptance and being yourself, but unlike many other tween books that try to convey the message, Stargirl delivers. I found myself cringing as Stargirl attempts to find her balance and as she tries to be "normal" under Leo's misguidance. Really worth reading. ( )

A great book that addresses self-acceptance in one of the toughest places to be as a teenager: high school. Stargirl, the main character, has been homeschooled, but begins high school in public education. She comes to school in her long flowing dresses and her eukele on her back. She falls in love but ends up leaving Mica High because the students do not not accept her. She chooses self-acceptance over popularity. I love this book because the character is a young and stron-willed adult. It is a great read for those students that don't always fit in because of their choice to find themselves without the peer pressures of high school. ( )

I was deeply moved by Stargirl and found it left me feeling very happy and hopeful. I believe books like this one are good for the soul. ( )

This book is about two teenagers, Leo Borlock (first person narrator) and Stargirl Caraway, an oddball new girl.
It is a great romance book full of excitement, mystery, and confusion. 8/10!!!!

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. ( )