Books - Stargirl

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	Books - Stargirl

Stargirl, is a novel by Jerry Spinelli in 2000.

Plot introduction

Eleventh-grader Leo Borlock narrates the story of Stargirl Caraway, a very odd new student at Mica Area High School in Arizona who has spent her previous years in homeschooling.

Plot summary

She sets the school, which up until that point had nothing unusual about it, into uproar. She wears kimonos, Indian buckskin, 1920's flapper dresses and pioneer dresses to school. During every class period she puts a table cloth and a vase with daisies in it on her desk. She strums a ukulele during lunch and sings Happy Birthday to kids who have never met her. One word hangs over the student body: Huh?

Baffled by the new girl, Leo and his friend Kevin seek out the advice of Mica's local retired paleontologist, A.H. (Archiebald Hapwood) Brubaker. Archie, as he commands the children of the town to call him, is a retired college professor who never gave up teaching, despite not being certified to teach in Arizona. Students come to his house every weekend for meetings of the "Loyal Order of the Stone Bone". The boys ask Archie about Stargirl's name. It had been revealed to them that her real name is Susan Caraway. When she had first turned up at Archie's house she had been called Pocket Mouse, then Mudpie, then Hullygully and finally Stargirl. Whatever strikes her fancy.

Stargirl's enthusiasm for life infuses itself into the students of MAHS. One boy comes to school with purple hair, flowers appeared in classrooms and one day when it rained, a dozen girls ran outside to dance. When Stargirl starts showing up at the school's football games, so do the rest of the students. She's finally made an official cheerleader at the end of the football season and never stops cheering. She cheers for everyone; the spectators out of the cheerleader's usual area, the parents at the hot dog stand, even the opposing team.

Her cheering is what eventually gets her into trouble. When MAHS's basketball team loses after the longest winning streak in the history of the school, Stargirl becomes their scapegoat. They say it was her fault they lost, her and her cheering for the other team. It took the heart out of MAHS's players, that's why they lost. Suddenly no one but her friend Dori Dilson and Leo will talk to her or Leo, no one makes eye contact, they avoid her in the halls.

Somewhere along the line Leo and Stargirl had started dating. She finally asks him why no one likes her. He tells her it's because she's too different. Too out there.

And two days later, Stargirl disappears. And Susan Caraway is there in her place. A jean-wearing, toenail-painting, gum-chewing, average teenager. Stargirl gave up herself in the hope that the other students might accept her again. But as the weeks go by, and she saw that not even being normal made the other students like her, she finally gives up and reverts back to Stargirl. Leo and Stargirl never officially break-up. But when he doesn't ask her to the school dance, it becomes clear that they're no longer an item.

Stargirl showed up to the dance alone after being dropped off by Dori. She danced alone until brave "Raymond Somebody" asked her to dance. It snowballed from there. Stargirl soon had the entire student body in attendance doing the Bunnyhop. All except for Hillari Kimble, the most popular girl in school. The band played the Bunnyhop for what seemed like hours while Hillari and her date Wayne Parr tried to dance "normally". When the Bunnyhop is finally over Hillari marched up to Stargirl, declared "You ruin everything!" and slapped her. Stargirl simply kissed her on the cheek in return. She then walked away from the dance, back to where Dori was waiting to pick her up.

No one ever saw her again. Weeks later Leo went to Stargirl's house and found it empty with a For Sale sign out front. Years later at reunions, she was the most talked about thing. "Were you in the Bunnyhop?" Leo continued to visit Archie even fifteen years later, the old man still trying to help his student figure out the girl that had taught them both so much. It's implied that Archie eventually dies.

Characters in "Stargirl"

Leo Borlock – the main protagonist
Kevin – friend to Leo
Susan Caraway – the "Stargirl" of the title
Dori Dilson – friend to Susan
Archiebald Hapwood Brubaker – or just "AH"
Hillari Kimble –

Stargirl

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Books - Stargirl

Plot introduction

Plot summary

Characters in "Stargirl"

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