I don’t give books five stars very often. Actually this may be only the second time I’ve done so (the first was The Time Traveler’s Wife). This isn’t because I don’t love books, but because I’m afraid that if I give one book five stars and then read another book I love more… then what? I did not question giving Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli five stars. I LOVED this book!!
She was trying to get herself discovered for the movies.
She was sniffing fumes.
She was homeschooling gone amok.
She was an alien.
Her parents were circus acrobats.
These are just a few rumors surrounding the newest student at Arizona’s Mica Area High School, Stargirl. She wears odd costumes, decorates her desk, and pulls out her ukulele in the cafeteria to sing to fellow students. She dances in the rain and laughs at nothing. In a place where being normal is necessary for social survival, she doesn’t care about how different she is. We meet Stargirl through the eyes of Leo who becomes entranced by her charm. It’s not long before the rest of the student body falls for her and starts mirroring her weird behavior. She is loved by everyone. “It was a rebellion she led, a rebellion for rather than against. For ourselves.”
Unfortunately all doesn’t end well… soon people are baffled by her showing up at funerals where she knows no one and even worse, cheering for the other team at sporting events. That doesn’t stop Leo from falling in love with her. He says “she was bendable light: she shone around every corner of my day“. But things soon get worse. The silent treatment the school is using on Stargirl flows over onto him. He must choose between being with Stargirl and remaining shunned by the student body.
The book is fairly short (only 186 pages), but it moved me. It made me want to dance in the rain and send cards to strangers. It made me want to be more unique. More me. I cannot wait to read the sequel to this story, Love, Stargirl. PLEASE read this book!
* counted towards: 101 Books, 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, & A-Z Books
