Stargirl (novel)
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| Author | Jerry Spinelli |
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| Translator | ? |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young adult |
| Publisher | Knopf Books for Young Readers |
| Released | August 8, 2000 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 192 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-88637-0 |
Stargirl is a novel by Jerry Spinelli, first published in 2000.
The story centers on a very odd new student at Mica Area High School in Arizona: Stargirl Caraway, an eccentric and compassionate vegan who has spent her previous years in homeschooling. Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock narrates. Between the story and the epilogue, the narrator implies that twenty years have elapsed, and the references imply that the novel is set in the 1980s. There is a movie in development[citation needed], produced by Nickelodeon Movies, and directed by Paul Feig.
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[edit] Plot summary
As the story opens, Stargirl sets the school, which up until that point had nothing unusual about it, into uproar. She wears kimonos, Indian buckskin, 1920's flapper dresses and pioneer dresses to school. During every class period she puts a table cloth and a vase with daisies in it on her desk. She strums a ukulele during lunch and sings Happy Birthday to kids who have never met her. One word hangs over the student body: Huh?
Baffled by the new girl, Leo and his friend Kevin seek out the advice of Mica's local retired paleontologist, A.H. (Archibald Hapwood) Brubaker. Archie, as he commands the children of the town to call him, is a retired college professor who never gave up teaching, despite not being certified to teach in Arizona. Students come to his house every weekend for meetings of the "Loyal Order of the Stone Bone". The boys ask Archie about Stargirl's name. It had been revealed to them that her real name is Susan Caraway. When she had first turned up at Archie's house she had been called Pocket Mouse, then Mudpie, then Hullygully and finally Stargirl. She seems to change the name according to her likes and dislikes.
Stargirl is very charitable and often brings Leo to the mall. She drops off change everywhere just to make people happy. She often plays a game with Leo about cards. They follow any person they see in the mall around for 15 minutes and they try to figure out what kind of card to buy for that person. She reveals a secret desire to become a silver lunch truck driver-- yet another way of pleasing people.
Stargirl's enthusiasm for life infuses itself into the students of MAHS. One boy comes to school with purple hair, flowers appeared in classrooms and one day when it rained, a dozen girls ran outside to dance. When Stargirl starts showing up at the school's football games, so do the rest of the students. She's finally made an official cheerleader at the end of the football season and never stops cheering. She cheers for everyone; the spectators out of the cheerleader's usual area, the parents at the hot dog stand, even the opposing team. This last causes almost the entire student body, save Leo and another pupil called Dori, to shun her.
Leo eventually becomes Stargirl's paramour, as well as her partner in her attempts to make everyone happy. However, he is still unsettled by her ways and suggests that the student body shuns her because of them.
Two days later, Stargirl disappears. Susan Caraway is there in her place; A jean-wearing, toenail-painting, gum-chewing, average teenager. Stargirl gave up her idiosyncrasies, it seems, in the hope that the other students might accept her again. But as the weeks go by, and she saw that not even being normal made the other students like her, she finally gives up and reverts back to Stargirl. Leo retains his affection for her, but does not display it.
At the local promenade dance, Stargirl leads most of the school in a bunny-hop train, while Leo looks on. One of the students, a most popular girl named Hillari, responds with violence. Stargirl leaves the town and never returns.
She has left her mark, however: Leo has become less egocentric and more introspective; the school band now features ukuleles; etc. Archie believes that Stargirl has a quality of being closer to the original nature of the Universe than her peers. Leo keeps watch for a silver lunch truck.
[edit] Characters in "Stargirl"
- Leo Borlock – the main protagonist
- Kevin Quinlan – Leo's best friend, not a bad guy but also shuns Stargirl, also the host of "Hot Seat"
- Stargirl Caraway
- Dori Dilson – Stargirl's friend
- A.H. (Archiebald Hapwood) Brubaker – also Archie, leader of The Loyal Order of the Stone Bone.
- Hillari Kimble – the most popular and loudmouthed girl in MAHS, believes Stargirl is a fake.
- Cinnamon – Stargirl's pet rat
- Wayne Parr--Hillari Kimble's boyfriend
- Anna Grisdale--A senior girl who goes to MAHS
- Becca Rinaldi--A girl who goes to MAHS; was in the Hot Seat jury for Stargirl
- Jennifer St. John--A girl who goes to MAHS; was in the Hot Seat jury for Stargirl
- Peter Sinkowich- 5 years old. Stargirl makes a scrapbook for him for when he gets older.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The novel was adapted for the stage by Amy Mayes and Lisa Houston and for The Pennington School's Fall Play, which ran November 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th 2006. This adaptation was approved by Jerry Spinelli.
[edit] Trivia
- Jerry Spinelli, in the book's dedication, refers to his wife as "my Stargirl."[1]
- Leo Borlock was mentioned in an earlier Spinelli novel, Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, as a person who everyone goes to for advice.[2]
