Stargirl Book Talk

StarGirl by Jerry Spinelli

Ashley Hopkins

Summary

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli is one of those beautiful coming of age stories that points out the best and worst in adolescents. The story begins with Leo Borlock hearing throughout the day of something spectacular, but does not know what it is. At lunch, he sees her—Stargirl Caraway. She is wearing non-traditional clothing and comes across as different. Stargirl is immediately judged for this. Eventually, Stargirl’s differences gain her massive popularity. This popularity encourages all students to become nicer and more caring. Stargirl’s immense care for others gets her into trouble and over-night, her popularity vanishes. Through a difficult time in a new school, Stargirl remains kind and optimistic.

Rationale

This book came to mind immediately for this assignment. Stargirl is an easy read, but one that is interesting. There is never a dull moment and falling in love with the characters comes naturally. This book has love as well as social obstacles to over-come. The main character goes through difficult times but never stops being herself and is always kind to others and those are important lessons for adolescents. Stargirl is also full of vivid imagery, which is often emphasized in secondary reading.

Teaching Ideas

1.      Students could keep a journal of their own feelings and record moments when they are most authentic.

2.      Students can find a current event article on bullying and do a write up on it to gain a better understand of the real effects it has.

3.      This book would be taught as a literary unit. We would read this book as a whole class and focus on the theme of being authentic. There is a sociological aspect to Stargirl, as we would look largely at how Stargirl maintains a positive and good personality even when others disagree with her. It would be interesting to tie this to new stories of bullying in schools so students can see what an issue it is and how brave Stargirl is.

Obstacles

The major obstacle in teaching Stargirl would likely be the reading level. The book is a quick and easy read, so although it is set in a high school, it would be a more appropriate choice in a middle school setting. The novel does not contain profanities, drug, or sexual content. There is some heavey bullying that takes place in Stargirl and it is one of the largest themes. Some may view the showing of bullying as encouraging.