Stargirl book summary and Review

 Check out my Stargirl book summary and Review that I created to help you understand the basics of this great book. Stargirl was written by American author Jerry Spinelli and was first published in 2000. The novel is based on the story of Leo Borlock, a class XI student at Micah High School in Arizona, and the story of a new student named Susan "Stargirl" Caraway.

Stargirl, a tenth grader with a strange and always strong personality, rejects most of her classmates except Leo, and she is gradually drawn into Stargirl's unconventional life. The main topics discussed are personality, diversity and acceptability.

 
Stargirl was well-received by critics, who praised Stargirl's character and the message of the novel's diversity as a whole. New York Times Bestseller, Parent's Choice Gold Award winner and ALA Top Ten Best Books Award and Publishers Weekly. The sequel, Love, Stargirl, was released on August 14, 2007.

Stargirl book summary :

Suggestion:

The novel begins with a brief introduction to the character of Leo Borlock at the age of 12 and tells the story of him and his family moving from their home state, Pennsylvania, to Arizona. Before moving on, his uncle (Uncle Pete) gave Leo a necktie with a hedgehog, which inspired Leo to collect such bonds.

 After mentioning his collection in the local newspaper, Leo received a necktie with a second hedgehog on his 14th birthday, leaving it in a neatly wrapped package without the sender's name.

Main plot:

The story continues four years later (when Leo was 16 years old) with the arrival of Susan Caraway, a strange new student at Leo High School. Susan, known as Stargirl, has been homeschooling all her life and her behavior is unusual and provocative. Mickey High School students find her weird, but Stargirl doesn't care what others think of her.

She came to school wearing strange outfits, such as a kimono, a Native American boxkin dress, a 1920s girl's floor-length skirt, and a pioneer no-makeup outfit. During each class period she decorates her desk with tablecloths and flowers. She danced in the rain, and played eucalyptus every day at lunch, singing "Happy Birthday," something she had never known.

Ni attended the funeral of a stranger for both teams during a sports event. His behavior was very unusual, at first not every student knew what made him do that. A popular student named Hillary Kimble said that Stargirl was a fabrication that was deliberately presented by the school, which eventually spread various rumors and rumors.

When Hillary forbade Stargirl to sing "Happy Birthday" to her on her birthday, Stargirl promised not to do so. But Stargirl sang "Happy Birthday, Dear Hillary", but the song is for Leo, and she says she thinks Leo is cute. Leo gradually became interested in Stargirl's mystery, following her after school and passively observing her strange activities and the reactions of other students.

Although initially avoided by most students, Stargirl gained popularity when she joined the cheerleading team. Students begin to imitate his behavior, and he no longer sits alone at lunch. Her activities on the cheerleading team spread a huge crowd present at the sporting event. Leo personally celebrates the personality that goes with the school, although his own shame prevents him from attending.

However, Stargirl's popularity was short-lived. Thanks to his efforts, the basketball season was the best in the history of the school and inspired the school. The students then began to hate Stargirl's habit of cheering for both parties. Their anger was seen during the shooting of the school's television show Hot Seat, which was directed by Leo and his best friend Kevin.

During the event, "juries" (consisting of volunteer students) were presented to guest stars to ask questions. Stargirl was the guest star at the time, and although Stargirl was initially asked only general questions, they soon turned into tough and painful questions that began to come around Stargirl's personality and actions.

A teacher at the time told Hot Seat to stop, and the interview with Stargirl was never aired, but the mess was already there. Shortly afterwards, Stargirl consoles an injured opponent during a play-off basketball match and is blamed for Mika Hai's subsequent basketball failure. Stargirl is avoided by the rest of the students, her only friends being Dori Dilson, Leo and some Kevin.

Leo praises Stargirl for her generosity, her courage to be apart, and the two fall in love for a while. They spend more time together, and Leo experiences an unconventional lifestyle and begins to help Stargirl with various projects, such as leaving greeting cards for strangers and dropping coins on the sidewalk to find others.

 Leo temporarily loses his place as they date, but the reality is that Leo realizes that the whole school is avoiding the two of them. In response, Leo persuades Stargirl to behave more "normally." Stargirl begins to take her real name, Susan, in plain teenage clothing, and becomes obsessed with things that make her socially acceptable and popular. This action did not work.

Stargirl decides that the best way to become popular is to win an interstate speech contest. He made it to the finals, and his bizarre and creative personality won him over. But when Stargirl returns to school hoping to receive the protagonist, Stargirl is disappointed that only three people greet her.

Realizing that she achieves nothing when she tries to adjust to her social circle, and is actually in the process of betraying herself, Stargirl returns to her former nature and personality.

Unable to overcome the antisociality that has befallen Leo Stargirl due to her being a boyfriend and being confused about her own feelings for ending their relationship and unable to overcome her desire to be accepted with other students.

Although they are separated, Stargirl joins her friend Dori in Okotilo, a school dance. Leo watched from a distance as Stargirl danced on a bicycle decorated with a bunch of sunflowers. Although the dance was initially ignored by others, some of Stargirl temporarily began to draw her attention.

She persuaded DJ to play "The Jumping Rabbit" dance music, and gradually other students joined her in the dance, until only Hillary Kimble and her boyfriend Wayne Parr were absent. When the dance is over, Hillary stands opposite Stargirl, saying that Stargirl ruined everything, and slapped Stargirl on the cheek.

 Stargirl slapped Hillary back with a soft kiss on the cheek. No one in town has seen Stargirl since that night, and Leo learns from his groupmate Archie that Stargirl and her family are gone.

Conclusion:

Fifteen years after graduating from high school, we meet Leo again and learn that he works as a set designer. He describes how Stargirl made the lasting changes he left behind. The students cheered for the opposing team to score in the next basketball game, the kids formed a club called "Sunflowers" which did a good job for others every day, and the school's marching band was the only one in Arizona to do so.

 Eucular Leo explains that Stargirl has a more subtle but lasting effect on her own life, as well as constantly thinking about Stargirl. At the end of the story, it is said that Leo received a hedgehog tie in the mail from Stargirl a few days after his birthday.