From the first day Stargirl arrived at Mica High, the hallways hummed with whispers of her name. She was extraordinary, or in my definition, just being herself. The school soon became Stargirl's world; she played ukulele during lunch, had a pet rat, joined the oratorical competition, and cheered for the Electrons during the basketball games. Stargirl was welcomed by the students of Mica High, and they were enchanted. At first. Stargirl captured Leo Borlock's heart. As their relationship became closer and closer, Leo realized the transitions of his popularity while he was dating Stargirl. Desperated with love, he urged Stargirl to become normal. Leo had to choose between Stargirl and everyone else. I felt like this book relates to me a lot because sometimes, I just want to be myself, however I might choose to be just like everybody else, considering the thought of being normal. My favorite character in this book is Archie, because I felt like he teaches life lessons to both Leo and Stargirl. I think that this book is an inspiration to many people, especially students. I would recommend this book to my sister because I think that she is somehow similar to Stargirl. After reading this book, I finally know the answer to this question: What is being normal like? I feel like being normal is just to be yourself.
Stargirl
By Jerry Spinelli
| Interest Level | Reading Level | Reading A-Z | ATOS | Word Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grades 9 - 12 | Grades 2 - 8 | V | 4.2 | 41214 |
Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’ s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.
Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.
Don’t miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, and Jerry Spinelli’s latest novel, The Warden’s Daughter, about another girl who can't help but stand out.
“Spinelli is a poet of the prepubescent. . . . No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion.” —The New York Times
From the Hardcover edition.
Book Reviews (157)
This story is about a girl called Stargirl, who goes to Mica High. She was homeschooled before she came to Mica High, so she doesn't know what it is like to be a "normal" high school girl. So she plays the ukulele during lunch and plays with her pet rat, Cinnamon. The narrator of this book is called Leo Borlock, who is a normal 11th grader. Throughout the book, his relationship with Stargirl become closer and closer. But since everyone thinks Stargirl is weird, Leo and Stargirl runs into a problem where everyone in Mica High ignores them. I could sometimes relate to this, because sometimes when people speak different languages around me, I feel ignored and can't communicate. My favorite part of the book was when Stargirl and Leo goes to the enchanted place. I think the author describes the enchanted place very well, because when I read the book, I felt like I was really in the enchanted place. I would recommend this book to people who like realistic stories and people who like to read things that they can relate to in their life. I think this was a pretty good book, and a book that everyone can relate to.
I think this story was a pretty interesting story. The main character of this story is Stargirl, and the narrator is Leo Borlock, a normal boy in 11th grade. Stargirl came to Mica High, but before that, she was homeschooled. She don't know what it is like to spend time in high school and act "normal." Leo is just a normal boy who thinks Stargirl is weird. But their relationship become closer and closer throughout the story. My favorite character was Archie, the paleontologist who teaches at universities. I like how he is very obsessed with bones and fossils. Also, he understands Stargirl a lot, so he can give advice to Leo. There were a lot of realistic events and situations that I could relate to. For example, Leo wants to be normal, like everyone else. He also wants Stargirl to be normal. I can relate to that because sometimes, I feel like being normal is the right thing and I shouldn't act too crazy or weird. In my opinion, I think this book was a pretty good book. I like how the author describes clearly about Stargirl's enchanted places, because the description was so vivid that I could imagine the scene very clearly. But I wish the author talks more about Hillari and Wayne Parr, because it might have been interesting to see more conflicts between Stargirl and Hillari.
Stargirl is NOT and ordinary girl, in our definition, but have we really think of what's ordinary and what's weird? Stargirl appeared to be the strange kid in the MEHS when she is what we once is. She's different, wears different clothing, acts different. She's the friendliest girl yet she has only 2 friends - Leo and Dori, but she doesn't seem to mind! She don't have ego and she was in her own world - connected to the star. Always smiling even if she's sad, trying to make everyone happy, and being original - Just her self. Unlike other girls, she thinks positively and I feel proud of her. I will definatly be an up-stander and stand up towards Hillari and the bullies.
The story is about a girl that is weird and want to have friends, the main main characters is Stargirl, the main character is in the hot seat, everyone think she is weird in the first, but last she became more, my main character is Stargirl cause she turn weird to popular, sometimes stargirl is a little bit weird like me , I didn't feel the book is so GREAT but not bad too, my favourite part of the book is when the hole time she is chatting with the bus driver. I don't think I will suggest the book to the people like Adventure story.
This book is about how Stargirl, a new transfer to Mica High, gets along with the people at her high school. Stargirl is a tenth grader that wore “an off-white dress so long it covered her shoes,” the author said. “It had ruffles around the neck and cuffs and looked like it could have been her great-grandmother’s wedding gown.” Now that pretty much gives us an insight to what kind of person Stargirl is. People were staring at her as she walked in, and only half of the cafeteria started buzzing after she started to eat, which as we know from personal experience, is not common in middle and high school. Leo, the narrator of this book, tells us about Stargirl and the impact that she brought to Mica High. As he was describing her, we can’t help but notice that he had fallen quite hopelessly in love with Stargirl, and that Stargirl had also fallen in love with him. Given the plot so far, I would immediately assume that this is another one of those oh-so-cliché stories that tells us about high-school drama and romance. But here the author leads us into a world of hard choices and then regret. What I liked most about this book is that I can relate to most of the characters and how they react to certain things. A most obvious example would be Leo, who chose fitting in with others over loving Stargirl, which was not the most heroic of actions, but - as hard as it is for us to admit - is how most of us would have acted if we were in his shoes.
i really wan to read this book cuz all my friends loved it
This book is good but confusing.
It is a Realistic Fiction book. There is a girl named stargirl and she is different. Some people do not like that.
I read this book in second grade. Five years later, I can't remember much about it, but I do remember that I loved it! You she read Stargirl, and I should RE-read it! One more thing: Does Stargirl remind anyone else of Luna Lovegood? :)