Stargirl

When Leo firsts meets Stargirl, he's amazed. Puzzled, perhaps, and weirded out, but mostly just not understanding what to make of her. She's bizarre, unique, and nothing he's ever seen before. 'She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to a corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew.' That's what everyone things of Stargirl. But they start to like Stargirl. She's a person that they can all warm to. With her flowing dresses and her ukulele, she's one of a kind- she's undefined. She's astounding for a freckled home-schooled girl, she's amazing in her bravery. She has the heart of a Hufflepuff, the courage of a Gryffindor, the coolness of a Syltherin and the knowledge of a Ravenclaw (Harry Potter reference). She is said to be fake, but she is real. She is everything.

Stargirl is the story of an amazing girl that has changed the looks and views of a whole entire high school. The  undefined is always queer, and scary perhaps. But the adventurous part inside of us want to get close to it. And that is how people end up getting close to Stargirl. She is the definition of unexpectable, and has a personality to match it. She does things just for doing it, she cares about people she was never close to. She misses people she never saw before, and does things just because she wants to. But she has more wisdom about themselves than they ever thought. More courage than they ever believed, and more power to make change than they had ever thought. As a modest girl that does things to be helpful, as a girl that makes someone's life easier just because she can, as a girl that doesn't take credit for the things that she does, Stargirl is the purest girl ever to be made.

Jerry Spinnelli sure writes the queerest, funniest novels ever. I read Stargirl first when I was in grade 4, and I still believe it to be an amazing novel of an amazing girl and an average boy. Anyone can have the power of the stars in their hands. Everyone has a chance to use it. It really depends on yourself. Stargirl uses it to help others- to give them the thing that they need to keep their chin up. Sometimes it freaks them out. Stargirl doesn't seem to mind. Sometimes they respond happily, positively. Stargirl doesn't seem to mind. Sometimes they don't respond at all. Stargirl doesn't seem to mind that either. Mr. Spinnelli wrote an astounding novel of a girl with the courage of a lion, the wisdom of an owl, the kindness of family, and the happy and nonchalant attitude of a teenager. I recommend this book as a lit-circle book, but really, just because of that doesn't mean that 'oh adults will like this one.' Because I really mean it- children will like it as well. The unexpected tale of the astonishing.

**** I give this book a 9.5 out of 10. Spectacular. ****