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Stargirl (novel)
Encyclopedia
Stargirl is a young adult
novel
written by Jerry Spinelli
, first published in 2000
.
The book centers on an eccentric and compassionate 10th grade student
at Mica Area High School in Arizona
named Susan "Stargirl" Caraway, who has spent her previous years in homeschooling
. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock narrates throughout the story. Between the story and the epilogue
, the narrator
implies that 15 years have elapsed. The sequel Love, Stargirl
was released August 14, 2007.
Susan "Stargirl" Caraway - a new face to Mica Area High School. Stargirl is definetely not the same as everyone else at MAHS. She captures Leo Borlock's heart by just one smile. She brings the idea of individuality to MAHS, something that the school has never encountered before, and the student body is not always sure how to grasp it.
Cinnamon - a friendly rat that is Stargirl's most cherished companion and sidekick. He listens to Stargirl and does what she says.
Barney - an ancient, 60 million year-old, Paleocene era rodent skull that Archie keeps around to prove a point throughout the book, until the end, when Barney is buried.
Mr. McShane - Mica High's faculty representative to the state contest. He drives Stargirl and Leo to Phoenix, Arizona where the state competition is held.
Hillari Kimble - the girlfriend of Wayne Parr. She cannot stand Stargirl, hating her for the attention she gets, meaning she's jealous.
Dori Dilson - the best friend of Stargirl Caraway. At first, she is very shy, but Stargirl helps her to open up more towards others.
Wayne Parr - the boyfriend of Hillari Kimble. In terms of achievement, he is a nobody. When asked by Kevin on Hot Seat what his inspiration is, Wayne answers that it is the magazine GQ.
Archie Brubaker - a teacher who works on Saturdays. He is a retired paleontology professor whose home, full of bones, is open to the students each Saturday. An old man who knows his stuff. Archie can be confusing since he is a man of riddles.
Kevin Quinlan - the best friend of Leo Borlock. He is the host of Hot Seat. Kevin is one of the few who continue to acknowledge Leo while he is dating Stargirl.
Peter Sinkowitz - the boy who lives across the street from Stargirl. Peter is a little boy that Stargirl keeps an eye on. She takes random pictures and notes about him for a scrapbook she will give him when he comes to an age at which he can appreciate it.
Señor Saguaro - the giant cactus that grows in Archie's backyard. When Leo and Kevin go to Archie for answers to their problems, Archie turns to Señor Saguaro for help and advice.
Mallory Stillwell - the captain of the MAHS cheerleading squad. She invites Stargirl to be a cheerleader after Stargirl wows her classmates with stunts at football games.
, Native American
buckskin, 1920s flapper
clothes, and pioneer
clothing with no makeup.
During each class period she decorates her desk with a tablecloth and a vase with a daisy in it. She dances in the rain
. She strums a ukulele
during lunch every day and sings "Happy Birthday" to kids she has never met. She once yelled "Opokolo" out loud during lunch for no apparent reason. She attends other peoples' funerals and, during sporting events, cheers for both teams. Her behavior is so unusual and so unlike anything anyone at the school had seen before that the student body at first did not know what to make of her. One student, the popular Hillari Kimble, declares, "She is not real."
Leo becomes infatuated with Stargirl and refuses pleas of his best friend, Kevin , to put her on their show Hot Seat, the school’s student run television
production where students are placed on the spot, and a jury of fellow students ask them questions "to make them squirm." Because Leo is infatuated with Stargirl, he doesn’t want to embarrass her on the show. Once the student body becomes accustomed to Stargirl’s eccentricities, her popularity soars. Students begin to mimic her behavior, and at lunch, her table is overflowing with peers. She is asked to become a cheerleader, for all of the sports, and the attendance at games suddenly booms. She sparks a revolution against conformity in the school.Then she cheered and cheered.
When Hillari Kimble, the girl who was the most popular in school before the appearance of Stargirl, demands Stargirl not to sing to her on her birthday, Stargirl keeps her promise—she does not sing to Hillari, but she sings to Leo, only she says Hillari's name. When Kevin, Leo's best friend, asks Stargirl, "Why him?", she responds by tweaking his earlobe and saying, "He's cute."
Leo does privately celebrate the outburst of individuality taking over the school, even though his own shy demeanor keeps him from participating himself. He is merely a spectator in the events that follow.
The basketball season brings about Stargirl's downfall. For the first time in the school's history, they have an undefeated basketball season. She slowly begins to anger her school by cheering for not only MAHS, but the other teams as well. She doesn't believe winning is the only way to have fun, and this puzzles and angers the students, though this is the same behavior she exhibited as a cheerleader for the football team.
Shortly after the beginning of the basketball controversy is Stargirl's "Hot Seat" appearance. The show starts innocently, however, things slowly turn sour as the students begin to attack Stargirl with questions that single her out and attempt to embarrass her. As events get out of control the advising teacher cuts the show short. It never airs but the events are quickly revealed to the school by the members of the Hot Seat jury.
When basketball play-offs come around, the school faces tough competition, and, unfortunately, lose in the semi-finals. Stargirl angers the school by comforting a player from the opposing team when he breaks his ankle. This leads to her ultimate downfall from popularity. After the next game, where MAHS suffers a season-ending humiliating defeat, an unknown student hits Stargirl in the face with a ripe tomato
, to which the audience responds by applauding. The school takes out their anger for the defeat on Stargirl, illogically blaming her for the team’s loss. This eventually leads to her being shunned by the entire student body except for Leo and her one remaining friend, Dori Dilson.
After Stargirl’s popularity ends, she and Leo begin an obvious romance. Stargirl takes Leo to a place that seems like nowhere and they sit there for an hour and enjoy the beauty and "connect with the earth". A few days after this, they kiss on the sidewalk in front of her house, and Leo declares that it was "no saint I was kissing," They enjoy each others' company, and Leo begins to help Stargirl with her antics, such as leaving cards for people she doesn't know, and dropping change on the sidewalk. It is by observing her behavior that he figures out that Stargirl was the mysterious person that gave him the porcupine necktie four years before. Soon, though, Leo realizes the entire school rejects the couple. Desperate to undo this curse, he begs Stargirl to change and become "normal", so she becomes "Susan", the name she was born with. She drops her unconventional clothing and acts like all the other students at the school. She becomes obsessed with being "accepted" and popular. This plan, however, does not work.
"Susan" feels that the best way to become popular is by winning a state public speaking competition. Her eccentric and creative personality helps her achieve victory in the competition, and she returns to MAHS thinking she will receive a hero’s welcome. She is bitterly disappointed when only three people show up to see her homecoming. Susan realizes that she had achieved nothing by trying to fit in. She decides to go back to being her true self, and Stargirl returns, much to Leo’s dismay. He then abandons his relationship with Stargirl, confused about his feelings for her and with his desperation to be accepted by the school.
When the Ocotillo ball comes Leo decides not to go. Leo watches the ball from his bike in the distance. Stargirl regains popularity as she arrives on a bike covered in sunflowers. Stargirl is dressed beautifully and impresses everyone as she walks onto the tennis
court. As the dance progresses, Stargirl causes conflict with Hillari Kimble. When Stargirl asks the DJ to play the "Bunny Hop
", Hillari is appalled. Stargirl starts the dance with only a few people participating, until eventually the only people not in line are Hillari Kimble and Wayne Parr. Stargirl leads the hop into the desert where it seems as though they stay for hours. Upon the dancers' return, Hillari confronts Stargirl telling her that she always ruins everything and slaps her on the face. Stargirl returns Hillari's anger-filled action with, yet another, act of kindness - a polite kiss on the cheek. The next day, Stargirl disappears.
, a Parents Choice Gold Award Winner
, an ALA Top Ten Best Books Award winner, and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
. Critics have praised the Stargirl character and the novel's overall message of nonconformity.
founded a Stargirl Society, which aimed to promote the nonconformist message of the novel. The society received much attention, and inspired young people all over the world to create their own societies. Spinelli's website contains a list of tips on how to start a Stargirl Society.
Young adult literature
Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli is an author of children's novels on adolescence and early adulthood. He is best known for the novels Maniac Magee and Wringer....
, first published in 2000
2000 in literature
The year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
.
The book centers on an eccentric and compassionate 10th grade student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
at Mica Area High School in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
named Susan "Stargirl" Caraway, who has spent her previous years in homeschooling
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock narrates throughout the story. Between the story and the epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
, the narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
implies that 15 years have elapsed. The sequel Love, Stargirl
Love, Stargirl
Love, Stargirl is a 2007 young adult novel by Jerry Spinelli.This book is the sequel to the New York Times bestselling book, Stargirl and centers on "the world's longest letter" in diary form...
was released August 14, 2007.
Characters
Leo Borlock - The narrator of the book. Falls in love with Stargirl and dates her.Susan "Stargirl" Caraway - a new face to Mica Area High School. Stargirl is definetely not the same as everyone else at MAHS. She captures Leo Borlock's heart by just one smile. She brings the idea of individuality to MAHS, something that the school has never encountered before, and the student body is not always sure how to grasp it.
Cinnamon - a friendly rat that is Stargirl's most cherished companion and sidekick. He listens to Stargirl and does what she says.
Barney - an ancient, 60 million year-old, Paleocene era rodent skull that Archie keeps around to prove a point throughout the book, until the end, when Barney is buried.
Mr. McShane - Mica High's faculty representative to the state contest. He drives Stargirl and Leo to Phoenix, Arizona where the state competition is held.
Hillari Kimble - the girlfriend of Wayne Parr. She cannot stand Stargirl, hating her for the attention she gets, meaning she's jealous.
Dori Dilson - the best friend of Stargirl Caraway. At first, she is very shy, but Stargirl helps her to open up more towards others.
Wayne Parr - the boyfriend of Hillari Kimble. In terms of achievement, he is a nobody. When asked by Kevin on Hot Seat what his inspiration is, Wayne answers that it is the magazine GQ.
Archie Brubaker - a teacher who works on Saturdays. He is a retired paleontology professor whose home, full of bones, is open to the students each Saturday. An old man who knows his stuff. Archie can be confusing since he is a man of riddles.
Kevin Quinlan - the best friend of Leo Borlock. He is the host of Hot Seat. Kevin is one of the few who continue to acknowledge Leo while he is dating Stargirl.
Peter Sinkowitz - the boy who lives across the street from Stargirl. Peter is a little boy that Stargirl keeps an eye on. She takes random pictures and notes about him for a scrapbook she will give him when he comes to an age at which he can appreciate it.
Señor Saguaro - the giant cactus that grows in Archie's backyard. When Leo and Kevin go to Archie for answers to their problems, Archie turns to Señor Saguaro for help and advice.
Mallory Stillwell - the captain of the MAHS cheerleading squad. She invites Stargirl to be a cheerleader after Stargirl wows her classmates with stunts at football games.
Prologue
The novel begins with a brief introduction of Leo's life and chronicles his moving from his home state of Pennsylvania to Arizona, at the age of twelve. Before his move, his uncle Pete gives Leo a porcupine necktie as a farewell present, inspiring him to collect more like it. For a while, his collection still contained only one porcupine necktie until his birthday, when he receives one in a gift-wrapped package that an anonymous person left on his doorstep .Main story
This story picks up four years later with the arrival of an eccentric new classmate, Stargirl. Her behavior is unusual for a teen at Mica Area High School which prizes student conformity above all else. She wears kimonosKimono
The is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
, Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
buckskin, 1920s flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
clothes, and pioneer
American pioneer
American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...
clothing with no makeup.
During each class period she decorates her desk with a tablecloth and a vase with a daisy in it. She dances in the rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
. She strums a ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
during lunch every day and sings "Happy Birthday" to kids she has never met. She once yelled "Opokolo" out loud during lunch for no apparent reason. She attends other peoples' funerals and, during sporting events, cheers for both teams. Her behavior is so unusual and so unlike anything anyone at the school had seen before that the student body at first did not know what to make of her. One student, the popular Hillari Kimble, declares, "She is not real."
Leo becomes infatuated with Stargirl and refuses pleas of his best friend, Kevin , to put her on their show Hot Seat, the school’s student run television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
production where students are placed on the spot, and a jury of fellow students ask them questions "to make them squirm." Because Leo is infatuated with Stargirl, he doesn’t want to embarrass her on the show. Once the student body becomes accustomed to Stargirl’s eccentricities, her popularity soars. Students begin to mimic her behavior, and at lunch, her table is overflowing with peers. She is asked to become a cheerleader, for all of the sports, and the attendance at games suddenly booms. She sparks a revolution against conformity in the school.Then she cheered and cheered.
When Hillari Kimble, the girl who was the most popular in school before the appearance of Stargirl, demands Stargirl not to sing to her on her birthday, Stargirl keeps her promise—she does not sing to Hillari, but she sings to Leo, only she says Hillari's name. When Kevin, Leo's best friend, asks Stargirl, "Why him?", she responds by tweaking his earlobe and saying, "He's cute."
Leo does privately celebrate the outburst of individuality taking over the school, even though his own shy demeanor keeps him from participating himself. He is merely a spectator in the events that follow.
The basketball season brings about Stargirl's downfall. For the first time in the school's history, they have an undefeated basketball season. She slowly begins to anger her school by cheering for not only MAHS, but the other teams as well. She doesn't believe winning is the only way to have fun, and this puzzles and angers the students, though this is the same behavior she exhibited as a cheerleader for the football team.
Shortly after the beginning of the basketball controversy is Stargirl's "Hot Seat" appearance. The show starts innocently, however, things slowly turn sour as the students begin to attack Stargirl with questions that single her out and attempt to embarrass her. As events get out of control the advising teacher cuts the show short. It never airs but the events are quickly revealed to the school by the members of the Hot Seat jury.
When basketball play-offs come around, the school faces tough competition, and, unfortunately, lose in the semi-finals. Stargirl angers the school by comforting a player from the opposing team when he breaks his ankle. This leads to her ultimate downfall from popularity. After the next game, where MAHS suffers a season-ending humiliating defeat, an unknown student hits Stargirl in the face with a ripe tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
, to which the audience responds by applauding. The school takes out their anger for the defeat on Stargirl, illogically blaming her for the team’s loss. This eventually leads to her being shunned by the entire student body except for Leo and her one remaining friend, Dori Dilson.
After Stargirl’s popularity ends, she and Leo begin an obvious romance. Stargirl takes Leo to a place that seems like nowhere and they sit there for an hour and enjoy the beauty and "connect with the earth". A few days after this, they kiss on the sidewalk in front of her house, and Leo declares that it was "no saint I was kissing," They enjoy each others' company, and Leo begins to help Stargirl with her antics, such as leaving cards for people she doesn't know, and dropping change on the sidewalk. It is by observing her behavior that he figures out that Stargirl was the mysterious person that gave him the porcupine necktie four years before. Soon, though, Leo realizes the entire school rejects the couple. Desperate to undo this curse, he begs Stargirl to change and become "normal", so she becomes "Susan", the name she was born with. She drops her unconventional clothing and acts like all the other students at the school. She becomes obsessed with being "accepted" and popular. This plan, however, does not work.
"Susan" feels that the best way to become popular is by winning a state public speaking competition. Her eccentric and creative personality helps her achieve victory in the competition, and she returns to MAHS thinking she will receive a hero’s welcome. She is bitterly disappointed when only three people show up to see her homecoming. Susan realizes that she had achieved nothing by trying to fit in. She decides to go back to being her true self, and Stargirl returns, much to Leo’s dismay. He then abandons his relationship with Stargirl, confused about his feelings for her and with his desperation to be accepted by the school.
When the Ocotillo ball comes Leo decides not to go. Leo watches the ball from his bike in the distance. Stargirl regains popularity as she arrives on a bike covered in sunflowers. Stargirl is dressed beautifully and impresses everyone as she walks onto the tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
court. As the dance progresses, Stargirl causes conflict with Hillari Kimble. When Stargirl asks the DJ to play the "Bunny Hop
Bunny hop
Bunny hop can refer to:*Bunny hop , a novelty dance from the 1950s*Bunny hopping, in video games, a technique used to increase movement speed and control...
", Hillari is appalled. Stargirl starts the dance with only a few people participating, until eventually the only people not in line are Hillari Kimble and Wayne Parr. Stargirl leads the hop into the desert where it seems as though they stay for hours. Upon the dancers' return, Hillari confronts Stargirl telling her that she always ruins everything and slaps her on the face. Stargirl returns Hillari's anger-filled action with, yet another, act of kindness - a polite kiss on the cheek. The next day, Stargirl disappears.
Epilogue
Fifteen years after graduating high school, Leo finds himself working not as a television director, but a set designer. Stargirl has left behind some permanent changes at Mica Area High: students cheer the first basket scored against them at every game, a club called "The Sunflowers" performs one nice act per day for someone else, and the school’s marching band is the only one in Arizona to feature a ukulele. The story ends with Leo receiving a porcupine necktie in the mail one day before his birthday and realizing Stargirl had given it to him, his hope for Stargirl continues.Journal
After she moves, Stargirl begins writing a letter to Leo. She writes about her encounters with Perry Delophane and Dootsie. She also tells how she over came her love of Leo and all her adventures in Philadelphia.Reception
Stargirl has received much praise from critics. Imot was a New York Times BestsellerNew York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
, a Parents Choice Gold Award Winner
Parents' Choice Award
The Parents' Choice Award is an award presented by the non-profit Parents' Choice Foundation to recognize "the very best products for children of different ages and backgrounds, and of varied skill and interest levels." It is considered a "prestigious" award among children's products, and has been...
, an ALA Top Ten Best Books Award winner, and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
. Critics have praised the Stargirl character and the novel's overall message of nonconformity.
Film, TV, movie or theatrical adaptations
- A film version of Stargirl is currently being planned. The Montecito Picture Company is producing the film and was expected to release it in 2009; however, as of May 2011 no filming has been done.
Stargirl Societies
In 2004 students from Kent, OhioKent, Ohio
Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 27,906 at the 2000 United States Census and 28,904 in the 2010 Census...
founded a Stargirl Society, which aimed to promote the nonconformist message of the novel. The society received much attention, and inspired young people all over the world to create their own societies. Spinelli's website contains a list of tips on how to start a Stargirl Society.