Stargirl (Readers Circle)

Rating:
Summary: One of my favourite books!
Review: This book is sure to become an instant favourite with the reader. Told through the eyes of Leo Borlock, it tells of love, courage, and daring to be different.... set in Mica, Arizona.When Stargirl arrives, she is so different, so strange, so....GOOFY, that everybody is amazed. Leo cannot stop thinking about her, and then suddenly the whole is in love with this freckle-nosed home-schooler, but then, it changes. Stargirls popularity vanishes as quickly as it came, just as Leo and Stargirl begin being boyfriend and girlfriend. The whole school shun them, and Leo is forced to choose. Her or them.... There are no heart-stoppingly life changing events in this book, these occur slowly (like in real life) which may put off some action-and-adventure lovers. But if you want a lovely, thought-provoking read, then READ THIS BOOK. The characters are realistic and interesting, and you will laugh and cry by turns. It is the type of thing you can read again and again, a triumph for Jerry Spinelli.

Rating:
Summary: like hot chocolate on a snow day
Review: This book was the literary equivalent of a really good cup of hot chocolate, not made from a mix but with milk and real cocoa and laced with cinnamon and vanilla--not too saccharine, but with a complex, poignant sweetness that leaves one smiling and thoughtful on the inside. As a novel, it was charming and honest; as a social commentary, it was incisive--limited in scope, but razor-sharp in acuity. Spinelli honed his focus on the curious, ongoing struggle for self that reaches its peak during adolescence--trying to hear one's own voice amidst the clamor of those who can only calculate their self worth according to how many others are like them. He does not patronize unconventionality as seeking to be different for difference's sake, as is often the case with non-conformism in young adult literature. Stargirl does not need to prove anything to anyone. This mystifying absence of pride catches Leo square in the middle of a struggle to discover whose voice really matters, and the subsequent catch-22: betray oneself, or forego friends. Leo is convincingly honest and satisfyingly likeable; it is easy to identify with him. But an insistent voice inside me also claimed a peculiar kinship with the impish, ingenuous Stargirl. It made me want to dance in the rain, or dash about whimsically strewing loose change on sidewalks. If you need to remember what it's like to be pure of heart...if you want a reminder of what it's like to not care what people think...if you like real hot chocolate better than the mix...you'll enjoy this book.