Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a renowned and critically acclaimed young adult novel which was published in August 2000. Like many of Spinelli’s other young adult novels, Stargirl deals with issues of conformity versus individuality, leaving the novel to resonate with various demographics from young adults to adult educators alike.
Leo Borlock is an eleventh grader who would like nothing more than to conform within his stereotypical high school environment. However, Leo and the rest of Mica high school become torn away from their conventional existence by the arrival of Stargirl Caraway, a defiant and eccentric student who has been homeschooled her entire life and is now attending high school for the first time. In the first half of the school year, Leo observes Stargirl’s abnormal actions and how his classmates react to her strange lifestyle. At first, the students are suspicious of Stargirl’s eccentric nature and are hesitant to socialize with her. As the story progresses, some of the students are influenced by Stargirl’s individuality and become more open-minded themselves.
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by everyone. But Tyler has secrets of his own, and they’re starting to show under the golden boy cover. Ben, on the other hand, is partially deaf. The only things that don’t make him feel like a freak are soccer and hanging out with his best friend Tyler. And then Ben meets Ilona. She’s kind of a weirdo, with blue 💙 hair, tattoos, and no friends. But ever since Ben and Tyler have been drifting apart, Ben doesn’t know what it’s like to be alone-and maybe everyone needs to hang out with a fellow freak now and then.
Summary
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