Stargirl (Readers Circle)
by Jerry Spinelli
List Price:
Our Price: $2.89
You Save: $4.10 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jerry SpinelliBrand: Laurel Leaf
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-05-11
ISBN: 0440416779
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780440416777
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Stargirl (Readers Circle)
Book Review: What A Wonderful Book!
Summary: 5 Stars
We all know someone who marches to the beat of their own drum and is not afraid to be different. In this book, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli we felt like we were taken back to high school and were viewing the setting through the eyes of a boy named Leo.
In this book, Stargirl moves to a new town and school and takes them all on a ride with her unique style and ways. With her random acts of kindness, outlandish dress, out of the normal pet rat, and ukulele playing, Stargirl shows us all that we should not conform to the norms of society. Nonconformity is the underlying theme to this book, and shows us how we can celebrate being different.
In this book, Stargirl moves to Arizona and starts attending Mica Area High School. At Mica, everyone acts the same. If a person is different, they are not accepted. All the students want to blend in with the so called norms of the school. Mica is the typical high school that is portrayed in many books and movies (everyone wants to be popular and fit in, and everyone wants to be like the "popular" kids). At first everyone dislikes Stargirl because she is so different then everyone else. She sings to everyone on their birthday, and she does random acts of kindness. For example, she will leave little cards on everyone's desks and even bring everyone gifts on holidays. Stargirl also has a pet rat that she carries around in her bag. She plays a ukulele and prances through the halls.
Eventually, Stargirl gets on the cheerleading squad, and everyone starts to think she is so called "cool". Everyone likes her except for Hillarie Kimble, who throughout the whole book despises Stargirl because of her differences. Hillarie is the so called "popular" girl and tries to dictate the school around her.
The students in the school start embracing Stargirl's fashion and begin to dress like she does. People even start getting pet rats. However, Stargirl's cheerleading habits are far from ordinary. Instead of just cheering for her team, Stargirl cheers for both hers and the opposing team. When Mica's team loses an important game, the whole school turns on Stargirl, except for a certain boy named Leo.
This boy tries to fit in with his classmates as much as he can and does not want to be anything but normal. Leo is shy, quiet, and likes to blend in with the crowd. As much as he tries to fight the feelings, Leo cannot help but love Stargirl. Leo is the only one in school, except for Dori Dilson that will talk to Stargirl. In most cases, people would be devasted if they are being shunned by everyone in school, but Stargirl does not seem to notice.
She continues to be nice to everyone and continues her not so ordinary behavior. Leo loves spending time with Stargirl and loves being her boyfriend, but he does not like the effects that come along with this role. Everyone in school, except for his friend Kevin, starts ignoring Leo as well because he is Stargirl's boyfriend. This shunning takes a huge toll on Leo unlike Stargirl.
Eventually, Leo breaks down and tells Stargirl that she does not act normal and that maybe she should try being normal. Stargirl goes along with this idea, for Leo's sake, but it does not win her fellow classmates back over. People still do not talk to Stargirl. She soon goes back to her own self again.
The book has twists and turns from this point that are shocking and disturbing when putting them in the context of how people in real life really are. Stargirl is definitely a fiction book. The characters are not based on anyone in particular, and the story itself is not true.
We collectively loved the book, Stargirl. This book celebrates nonconformity and lets children know that we do not have to go along with what everyone else does. A quote from the book, "Why can't you be normal," (Spinelli, 2000, p.67) shows how children, and many adults, think about people around them. People tend to want to blend in with everyone else and want to essentially be "normal". But what is normal? To Stargirl, she was normal. The things she chose to do were normal to her, and things that others did was not normal to her.
This book would be great to use in about a fifth grade classroom. Stargirl would show students why it is so important to be different and why we should all celebrate differences and uniqueness. This book deals with popularity and many types of pressures that schools and friend groups deal with. Leo debates whether or not he should hang out with Stargirl because everyone dislikes her. This is something that many and most students are going to deal with in their lives. This book opens the doors to these issues in a manner that is suitable for this age range.
It is very important for us as teachers to express how important diversity is and how important it is to be different. Stargirl is a great way to talk about this with upper elementary students and even early middle school students. The characters in this book are easy to connect to and relate to which will make talking about the book and understanding the book easier for the students.
One final quote to end on is a quote from the book which says, "And I think every once in a while someone comes along who is a little more primitive than the rest of us, a little closer to our beginnings, a little more in touch with the stuff we're made of" (Spinelli, 2000, p.177). This quote sums up Stargirl herself and the part of the meaning of the book itself. This quote says that there are certain people in the world that act more like people back in the past. These people cared for others, thought of others feelings before their own, and had compassion for the world around them. This quote is referring to Stargirl, and it says that she is just more like the people from the past than the rest of the school is. When explained in these terms, wouldn't everyone want to be compassionate for others around them? These characteristics do not sound bad to us. So why not try to be more like the primitive people before us?
Summary of Stargirl (Readers Circle)
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
"She was homeschooling gone amok." "She was an alien." "Her parents were circus acrobats." These are only a few of the theories concocted to explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona's Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a "hotbed of nonconformity," is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator Leo Borlock: "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."
In time, incredulity gives way to out-and-out adoration as the student body finds itself helpless to resist Stargirl's wide-eyed charm, pure-spirited friendliness, and penchant for celebrating the achievements of others. In the ultimate high school symbol of acceptance, she is even recruited as a cheerleader. Popularity, of course, is a fragile and fleeting state, and bit by bit, Mica sours on their new idol. Why is Stargirl showing up at the funerals of strangers? Worse, why does she cheer for the opposing basketball teams? The growing hostility comes to a head when she is verbally flogged by resentful students on Leo's televised Hot Seat show in an episode that is too terrible to air. While the playful, chin-held-high Stargirl seems impervious to the shunning that ensues, Leo, who is in the throes of first love (and therefore scornfully deemed "Starboy"), is not made of such strong stuff: "I became angry. I resented having to choose. I refused to choose. I imagined my life without her and without them, and I didn't like it either way."
Jerry Spinelli, author of Newbery Medalist Maniac Magee, Newbery Honor Book Wringer, and many other excellent books for teens, elegantly and accurately captures the collective, not-always-pretty emotions of a high school microcosm in which individuality is pitted against conformity. Spinelli's Stargirl is a supernatural teen character--absolutely egoless, altruistic, in touch with life's primitive rhythms, meditative, untouched by popular culture, and supremely self-confident. It is the sensitive Leo whom readers will relate to as he grapples with who she is, who he is, who they are together as Stargirl and Starboy, and indeed, what it means to be a human being on a planet that is rich with wonders. (Ages 10 to 14) --Karin Snelson
Social Issues Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Social Issues Books
Pants on Fireby Meg Cabot
HarperTeen; Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.24
Price in other shops:
Miss Educated: An Upper Class Novelby Hobson Brown, Taylor Materne, Caroline Says
HarperTeen; Published: 2007-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.65
Price in other shops:
Jinxby Meg Cabot
HarperTeen; Published: 2009-05-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.23
Price in other shops:
Princess Mia (The Princess Diaries, Vol. 9)by Meg Cabot
HarperTeen; Published: 2008-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.67
Price in other shops:
The Sledding Hillby Chris Crutcher
Greenwillow Books; Published: 2005-05-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Damageby A. M. Jenkins
HarperTeen; Published: 2001-10-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.09
Price in other shops:
Battle Dressby Amy Efaw
HarperCollins; Published: 2000-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.42
Price in other shops:
The Pigmanby Paul Zindel
HarperTeen; Published: 1968-10-09; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $15.26
Price in other shops:
Vampire Kissesby Ellen Schreiber
Katherine Tegen Books; Published: 2003-08-05; Library Binding; Book
Price in other shops:
Midnighters #1: The Secret Hourby Scott Westerfeld
HarperTeen; Published: 2004-03-02; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Red Kayakby Priscilla Cummings
Puffin Books; Puffin; Published: 2006-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Keyby Jack Gantos
Square Fish; Published: 2011-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.45
Price in other shops:
Eggsby Jerry Spinelli
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2008-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Monsterby Walter Dean Myers
Amistad; Published: 2001-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
Milkweed (Random House Reader's Circle)by Jerry Spinelli
Ember; Ember; Published: 2010-03-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.38
Price in other shops:
Maniac Mageeby Jerry Spinelli
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 1999-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
Rulesby Cynthia Lord
Scholastic; Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2008-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
Loserby Jerry Spinelli
Harper Collins Publishers; HarperCollins; Published: 2003-07-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Crashby Jerry Spinelli
Laurel Leaf; Laurel Leaf; Published: 2004-05-11; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
Love, Stargirlby Jerry Spinelli
Ember; Published: 2009-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.24
Price in other shops: