How are these two scenes alike and different? How does each serve to show the different facets of Stargirl’s personality? One scene is Stargirl’s debut as a cheerleader the other has Stargirl competing in the oratory contest. Two scenes offset one another in the story.How does peer pressure change other characters in the story, most notably Leo? Discuss how the students of Mica High try to change Stargirl to suit their idea of what a “normal” person is. Peer pressure plays a significant role in the story of Stargirl.When Stargirl decides to use her given name, Susan Caraway, how else does she change? How can the simple act of using a different name cause a change in behavior and personality? How does this refute the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”?.177) What is Archie telling Leo both about the nature of his relationship with Stargirl and about Stargirl herself? “Star people are rare,” Archie tells Leo at the end of Stargirl.Their six children have given Jerry Spinelli a plethora of clever material for his writing. While they write in separate rooms of the house, the couple edits and celebrates one another’s work together. He lives with his wife and fellow writer, Eileen, in Wayne, Pennsylvania. He made his picture book debut with My Daddy and Me, a loving tribute to fathers and sons. Jerry Spinelli is the author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including Maniac Magee, winner of the Newbery Medal, and Stargirl, a New York Times bestseller and an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. As he falls in love with her, he still longs for her to be more “normal.” But maybe he should be careful about what he wishes. Leo Borlock is both fascinated and horrified by Stargirl’s disdain for fitting in. She has a pet rat named Cinnamon, plays the ukulele in the cafeteria, and refuses to wear the requisite jeans and t-shirts.
One glance and students know that the new girl at Mica High School is not your ordinary high school student. High school narrator Leo Borlock chronicles the impact just one new girl can have on an entire Arizona town. No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion.Jerry Spinelli’s bestselling novel Stargirl is a deceptively complex tale about love and loss, about fitting in and standing out, about speaking out and being quiet.
In Love, Stargirl, we hear the voice of Stargirl herself as she reflects on time, life, Leo, and - of course - love. In her writing, Stargirl mixes memories of her bittersweet time in Mica, Arizona, with involvements with new people in her life. The novel takes the form of "the world's longest letter," in diary form, going from date to date through a little more than a year's time. Love, Stargirl picks up a year after Stargirl ends and reveals the new life of the beloved character who moved away so suddenly at the end of Stargirl. The New York Times bestselling sequel to Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli’s modern-day classic Stargirl, now an original film on Disney+!Īnd don't miss the author's highly anticipated new novel, Dead Wednesday!