Stargirl is one of those characters that transcends literature and makes her presence known in the course of everyday life. After reading this I'd wish that there was someone like her in my life. I'd shamelessly imagine Stargirl with me, dancing around on the desert floor, doing cartwheels, meditating behind a sunset, putting a flower in my hair, whispering silly things in my ear while strumming her ukulele. She is the epitome of a free-spirited, selfless, naive fledgling on the verge of facing how hard it is to fit in at a school where cliques are so impenetrable that anything out of the ordinary is deemed unacceptable. As a home-schooled newcomer, Stargirl does all kinds of eccentric things because she didn't grow up with the poison of peer pressure and was free to do whatever she wanted. She gets into trouble by being so selfless that she starts cheering for the other team during a basketball game. Due to peer pressure, the phony narrator, who has a crush on her, faces the daunting task of trying to choose between her and his social dignity. The book is at once a powerful social commentary on the nature of adolescent interaction, and an inspiration for an entire class of outcasts that don't really give a damn what people think and just want to be themselves. Spinelli wrote it for young adults, but I think anyone who went to a school like Stargirl's and didn't fit in will find it amusing and relatable. I know I did.
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