Stargirl (novel)

Stargirl

First edition cover
Author	Jerry Spinelli
Language	English
Genre	Young adult 10+
Publisher	Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication date	August 8, 2000
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	192 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-679-88637-0
Followed by	Love, Stargirl

Stargirl is a novel by Jerry Spinelli, first published in 2000.

The story centers on a very old new student at Mica Area High School in Arizona: Stargirl Caraway, an eccentric and compassionate non-conformist vegetarian 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. A sequel, Love, Stargirl , was released August 14, 2007.

Plot summary

This book begins with some background information on the narrator, Leo Borlock. Leo moves to Arizona from Pennsylvania at the age of twelve, and, for a going-away present, his uncle Pete gives Leo a porcupine necktie. Two years later, the family section of the local newspaper runs an article on him for his birthday, and mentions that he collects porcupine neckties as a hobby. A few days later, Leo finds a plastic bag on his front step with a package inside. The card says "Happy Birthday," but doesn't say who its from. Inside is a porcupine necktie. As Leo foreshadows, he was skipping around town.

Leo goes on to recount his junior year at Mica Area High School: a new student, "Stargirl" Caraway, sends the school, which up until that point had nothing unusual about it, into uproar. She wears kimonos, Indian buckskin, 1920s flapper dresses and pioneer dresses to school. She carries her pet rat, Cinnamon, around with her in a bag with a life-size sunflower painted on it. During every class periods she puts a table cloth and a vase with daisies in it on her desk. She strums a ukulele during lunch every day 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 prefers 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, and he tells them that her real name is Susan Julia Caraway. When she had first turned up at Archie's house she had called herself Pocket Mouse, then went to Mudpie, then Hullygully and, finally, Stargirl. She changes the name according to her current likes and dislikes.

Leo begins to innocently "stalk" Stargirl. They become friends. Stargirl is very charitable and often brings Leo to the mall. She drops off change everywhere just so little kids have something to pick up. 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 they might give to that person. Stargirl also reveals a secret desire to become a silver lunch truck driver, so she can help please people during their lunch breaks in the work day.

Stargirl's enthusiasm for life infuses itself into the students of MAHS. One boy comes to school with purple hair, flowers appear in classrooms and, one day, when it rains, a dozen girls run outside to dance. When Stargirl starts showing up at the school's football games, so do the rest of the students. She's 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 a freshman named Dori Dilson) 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 her strangeness. They argue, and, two days later, Stargirl disappears. Susan Caraway is there in her place; a jean-wearing, toenail-painting, gum-chewing, average teenager. Stargirl gives up her idiosyncrasies in the hope that the other students might accept her again. But as the weeks go by, and she sees that not even being normal can make the other students like her, she finally gives up and reverts back to being "Stargirl." Leo retains his affection for her, but does not display it. He is tired of being an outcast. He does not ask her to the end-of-the-year "ball."

At the Ocotillo Ball, Stargirl arrives with Dori in a fabulous yellow gown. Even the parents stop to stare. She leads most of the school in a bunny-hop train. One of the students, a Queen Bee popular girl named Hillari Kimble, gets angry and slaps Stargirl in the face. Stargirl responds with a kiss on the cheek and leaves, never to return. She and her family move away.

But, Leo informs us, she leaves her mark. For example, Leo himself has become less egotistical and more introspective; the school band now features ukuleles; and the people at school are more inclined to be like themselves. Archie believes that Stargirl has a quality of being closer to the original nature of the universe than other people. As the years go by, Leo keeps watch for Stargirl's silver lunch truck; but, she never does return.

At the end of the book a package arrives for Leo--a porcupine necktie.

Characters in "Stargirl"

• Leo Borlock – the protagonist who later,is Stargirl's boy friend
• Susan "Stargirl" Caraway,the main charactor.
• Kevin Quinlan – Leo's best friend, the host of the "Hot Seat" (a student-run interview program at MAHS); eventually particpates in the shunning of Stargirl.
• Dori Dilson – Stargirl's friend, a freshman.
• A.H. (Archibald Hapwood) Brubaker – also Archie, leader of The Loyal Order of the Stone Bone.
• Hillari Kimble – the most popular and controlling girl at MAHS, believes Stargirl is an actor sent in by the teachers.
• Cinnamon – Stargirl's pet rat
• Wayne Parr – Hillari Kimble's boyfriend, wants to appear in GQ when he grows up.
• 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 Sinkowitz – a five-year-old boy who lives across the street from Stargirl that Stargirl is secretly keeping an album for.
• Chico – the hot seat camera which is rumored to be named after a boy that was so small and frail that he could'nt carry the camera but he volenteered anyway to do camera but he could'nt,so someone else got the job,but the year after that,he returnedwith big,mascular muslesand was an excellent camera man.

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.
• A film version of Stargirl is currently being planned. The Montecito Picture Company is producing the film and is expected to release it by 2008.

Trivia

• Jerry Spinelli, in the book's dedication, refers to his wife as "my Stargirl."
• Jerry Spinelli also lists Sonny Liston in the book's dedication. His reason for doing so is discussed in an interview with him, where he explains Sonny's situation. It parallels Stargirl's return from her oratorical contest in the way that both were greeted by no one when they expected a homecoming welcome.
• 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.