Mod 7: Stargirl Review

What's It All About?

Stargirl breezes into the hallways of Mica High and throws a blanket of colors on the student's drab lives. Leo is smitten from the start. How could he not be. The students can't get enough of her quirky behavior until her optimism is shared with the wrong team. When the tides turn can Leo get her back in the school's good graces? Can Stargirl stay true to herself?

What'd I Think?

I wanted to love this. I did. I had seen it on the shelves time and time again when I was a shelver and think, "I should check that out sometime." I kind of wish I had left it on the shelf so it could still hold its mystique it once held over me. The book came off as overly preachy about the horrors of changing for others as well as her overly eccentric lifestyle.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars!

What'd They Think?

Publishers Weekly -

(June 26, 2000; 9780679886372)

Part fairy godmother, part outcast, part dream-come-true, the star of Spinelli's latest novel possesses many of the mythical qualities as the protagonist of his Maniac Magee. As narrator Leo Borlock reflects on his junior year in a New Mexico high school, Stargirl takes center stage. Even before she appears at Mica High, Spinelli hints at her invisible presence; readers, like Leo, will wonder if Stargirl is real or some kind of mirage in the Sonoran Desert. By describing the girl through the eyes of a teen intermittently repulsed by and in love with her, Spinelli cunningly exposes her elusive qualities. Having been homeschooled, Stargirl appears at Mica High dressed as a hippie holdover and toting a ukulele, which she uses to serenade students on their birthdays; she marks holidays with Halloween candy and Valentine cards for all. As her cheerleading antics draw record crowds to the school's losing football team's games, her popularity skyrockets, yet a subtle foreboding infuses the narrative and readers know it's only a matter of time until she falls from grace. For Leo, caught between his peers and his connection to Stargirl, the essential question boils down to one offered to him by a sage adult friend: "Whose affection do you value more, hers or the others'?" As always respectful of his audience, Spinelli poses searching questions about loyalty to one's friends and oneself and leaves readers to form their own answers. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Magazine -

(July 01, 2000; 9780679886372)

(Intermediate, Young Adult) Cynics might want to steer clear of this novel of a contemporary Pollyanna, whose glad-game benevolences include singing Happy Birthday to her classmates, dropping change in the street for children to find, and-to her downfall-joining the cheerleading squad and rooting for both teams. High school junior Leo is at first nonplussed by Stargirl's not-so-random acts of kindness, but he really loves her from the start. After Stargirl is shunned for her disloyal cheerleading, Leo persuades her to go along with the crowd, and she even reclaims her birth name, Susan. Predictably, this doesn't work for Stargirl; on the author's part, it occasions much heavy-handed moralizing about conformity. While it is true that we are meant to see Stargirl as larger-than-life (""She seems to be in touch with something that the rest of us are missing""), there are no shadows to contour her character, and thus her gestures seem empty. While Spinelli's Maniac Magee was on the run for a reason and Pollyanna needed something to be glad for, Stargirl has nothing to lose. But as a story of high school outsiders and light romance, this will find an audience, and the book does bear many strong similarities to Maniac Magee, offering a charismatic female counterpart. r.s. (c) Copyright 2010. 

What Do I Do With It?

Students could have a classroom talent show to showcase their own weird quirky talents. Dressing up in over the top, movie wardrobe clothing is highly encouraged.