Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don't stand out--under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes--for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of home schooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body.
But the delicate scales of popularity suddenly shift, and Stargirl is shunned for everything that makes her different. Somewhere in the midst of Stargirl's arrival and rise and fall, normal Leo Borlock has tumbled into love with her.
In a celebration of nonconformity, Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity--and the thrill and inspiration of first love.
My rating: 2 stars.
Content warnings: PG. Some kissing, and brief danger to a beloved pet.
(spoilers ahead)
Thoughts: I think Spinelli meant well with this story. I'd like to think he did at least. But from the very beginning, the story of Stargirl is wild, rather unbelievable, and sort of painful to read. And that's before I realized it turned into one of the worst examples of a manic pixie dream girl I've read yet.
The synopsis calls it a celebration of nonconformity, but the ending doesn't really justify that. Nothing changes when Stargirl becomes "normal" and she's even celebrated for changing herself that much. It just felt disingenuous to what should have been the message of the story, and the two main characters dating really did not help that point at all either.
It could have been good, but I spent the entire time thinking about how it could have actually been good, so that's the best I can give it.
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