book 6 of 6 for the Young Adult Romance Challengerating: 4/5
genre: young adult romance
Lou is a typical high school kid - going to a high school full of other typical high school kids. When a new girl comes to class one day, looking nothing like your typical high school kid, life begins to get interesting. Her name is Stargirl and Lou has a hard time figuring out what to DO with such a girl. Wearing pioneer dresses to school? Serenading the cafeteria with a ukulele? Looking for the GOOD in people?? As much as Lou wants to like her, high school is not an easy place to be different and this makes relationships complicated things.
The language in this book is superb. Spinelli is not writing down to teens and often the book has an almost poetic appeal:
I liked the feeling moonlight gave me, as if it wasn't the opposite of day, but its underside, its private side, when the fabulous purred on my snow-white sheet like some dark cat come in from the desert.
I love how this book deals with the issue of being popular - whether or not it is something to strive for and how kids in high school can loose themselves in the quest for popularity. The romance in this novel is sweet, fresh and innocent - the heart racing backdrop to the never-ending crises that come up in school. I can't wait to put this one in the hands of my daughter a few years down the road - I think it'll be the catalyst for some very interesting discussion.
3 comments:
Sounds like a good read. I think we all forget how difficult high school can be. Even if the kids don't want to be popular they have to deal with the popularity stuff.
I read this book over the summer (review here, for the interested), and really liked it - I'm sad I didn't get to read it when I actually was in high school. I also totally agree with you about the language - totally unique, and gorgeous.
I also liked it a lot. I also really liked Love, Stargirl too, so make sure to add it to your TBR. I've heard there is going to be a Stargirl movie. I really hope there is a Stargirl #3, although Spinelli was surprised he even wrote a sequel to Stargirl since he is usually a one book kind of author.
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