About the Book
-
Author:
- Jerry Spinelli
- Genre:
- Contemporary
- Voices:
- Cis Boy
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
BFF Charm: Yay! And Nay!
Talky Talk: Straight Up
Bonus Factors: Mystical Cactii, Nonconformity, Jesus Allegories
Relationship Status: Childhood BFF
The Deal:
Leo Borlock is doing a good job not making waves at his high school in Arizona. He has a best friend, a job producing the school’s tv program, The Hot Seat, and is liked, but not particularly loved, by most people at his high school. That all changes with the arrival of Stargirl, who likes to decorate her desk with a tablecloth and flowers for each class, lets her pet rat, Cinnamon, ride around on her shoulder, and loudly sings “Happy Birthday” to people in the cafeteria, whether she knows them or not. (Stargirl cares not for your ridiculous copyright claims on “Happy Birthday,” descendants of Mildred and Patty Hill!)
People in Mesa High School, of course, hate Stargirl, because she is a little weird, and isn’t too interested in trading her kimonos and First Nations headdresses for makeup and hoop earrings. But gradually, Stargirl’s cheerful nature tends to grow on her classmates. And, uh, her lips start to get attached to Leo’s.
It’s all going fine until Stargirl, now a cheerleader, cheers anytime the other team scores a goal. Her classmates rebel against both her and Leo, until Leo pleads Stargirl to change her ways and be normal.
Which she does, until she just can’t anymore. Will anyone ever appreciate Stargirl for who she is? Will Leo ever get his head out of his ass and figure out what’s right in front of him? I hate to spoil the ending for you, but the answer is NO. NO HE WON’T.
BFF Charm: Yay! And Nay!
100%, big ups to my girl Stargirl, who is so completely the type of girl I would have befriended in school. And, hey, unlike everyone else in my junior high school, she might even have talked to me. She’s quirky and unusual, yes, but more than that, she’s just so nice. She sends birthday cards to strangers, and leaves change on the ground for other people, and roots for everyone. And Stargirl needs a BFF like me, so that I can secretly threaten to beat up anyone who tries to give her grief.
But a big NAY to offering my BFF charm to the self-involved, boring, stupidhead Leo. I know that Leo’s supposed to be our id, that we’re supposed to see ourselves in him and then go out and find our own Stargirls, but, let’s be honest. The nerdy, bookish girls like me were the Stargirls (though I was never so nice). And the Leos were the guys and girls who, whether they wished to or not, disappointed us time and again. Leo, YOU SUCK.
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
For me, Stargirl is such an ephemeral, charming and guileless character that I can’t really root for ANY romance for her. Romance, and swoony feelings, and hearts skipping beats are all lovely. But eventually, those feelings lead to nudity and spooge. And I don’t want to see my Stargirl so besmirched! I just sort of want to keep her in a special, velvet-lined box, so she can’t ever get her little heart broken. (We’re thinking of keeping Sarah in a box, too, but that’s mostly so she doesn’t get any of her bird bones broken.)
And while Spinelli knows how to weave a sweet little romance, I always knew that Leo would break Stargirl’s heart, so I was rooting against them ever getting together. Those fools who say “Tis better to have loved and lost than never loved at all” clearly don’t know how expensive therapy can be.
Talky Talk: Straight Up
For all of Stargirl’s mysticism, Spinelli grounds his story in very frank language. It’s actually a little too frank at times – in the beginning of the book, Leo “slaps five” with his bestie Kevin, and even two years after reading that line, I can still remember how awkwardly direct that wording is – but I love that he didn’t go the easier route of making it all moonbeams and prose. The language itself is as much a setting as the desert – sparse and honest and even-keeled. It makes Stargirl’s spirit and joy leap off the page even more than it might typically.
Bonus Factors: Mystical Cactii
I love Señor Saguaro, the shamen-like cactus that Archie Brubaker, Professor to the Stars, keeps in his backyard. If I liked cactii, which I do not (I hate all desert icons. I hate the desert.), I would so totally have a cactus in my backyard that I consulted on all difficult life decisions.
Bonus Factor: Nonconformity
Can we get some major props for the weirdos out there? When my BFF Alyson loaned me Stargirl, she said “This is the book I wish we’d had when we were twelve.” And she is SO right. In my school, like many schools, there were cliques. But it wasn’t just the popular girl clique. There was the stoner clique, and the hicks, and the journalism kids and the drama geeks and the jocks and the preps, and the thing is, none of us ever wanted to cross over. We, the nerds, were just as snobbish and insular as the rich party kids, and frankly, life is just too short for that shit. Learn to love yourself. All of yourself, not just the parts that are similar to someone else’s.
Bonus Factor: Jesus Allegories
I like Jesus. That may come as a surprise to . . . well, everyone, but Jesus is just alright with me. I mean, okay, I wish he’d cut his hair, and if you ask me, he went a little too easy on Judas, but raising people from the dead and healing the blind was totally cool. Also, how many times have I wished I could replicate the water into wine miracle?
Stargirl, of course, is just one long Jesus allegory. I mean, a new kid shows up, unconcerned with the petty politics of the age, leads a group of people into loving and accepting themselves and each other, and then is turned on by the populace – including the person they felt they were the closest to – with only Mary Magdalene, er, Dori sticking by them the whole time? And literally turning the other cheek – after being slapped – and kissing her transgressor, before mysteriously disappearing?
I wonder if Jesus had any pet vermin.
Relationship Status: Childhood BFF
There are some books I love – like Stargirl – and some books I despise – like Anna Karenina – that I think may be entirely down to what time in my life I read them. I can see reading Stargirl at a different age – maybe while I was an embittered high schooler – and not loving it like I do. But, much like a friendship blooming over a shared jar of Play-Doh, this book and I became real close, real fast. I feel like I could tell it anything, and that we will always have little jokes and stories that no one else will get. Sure, occasionally we go our separate ways, but in the end, I’ll know that this book has my back. And when I pass it down to my daughter, I know she’ll love it as much as I do.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Stargirl is available now.
