Individuality and Conformity
Jerry Spinelli’s young adult novel Stargirl highlights the kind-hearted quirkiness of a high school girl who calls herself Stargirl. But the novel’s action centers more around the reactions of her Mica High peers when the formerly homeschooled Stargirl shows up, serenading kids with her ukulele, celebrating those who are usually ignored, and—more controversially—even showing support to the school’s rivals during a state basketball tournament. By focusing on the reactions of Stargirl’s peers even more…
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Human Nature
In the novel, there’s a nagging question about Stargirl: how could a person like her exist? Her openness and obliviousness to social customs baffle her classmates so much that they even seem faked. Leo Borlock, in particular, makes Stargirl an object of study as he talks with his mentor Archie for insights and even joins Stargirl on her errands to surprise strangers in need of encouragement. He discovers that there isn’t a tidy…
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Seeing, Visibility, and Invisibility
Stargirl opens with the story of Leo Borlock receiving a porcupine tie in the mail, in response to a newspaper article about his necktie collection. “At the time I simply considered the episode a mystery. It did not occur to me that I was being watched. We were all being watched,” he writes. This ominous-sounding statement actually refers to the harmless Stargirl, who keeps a close watch on people and events in Mica, Arizona…
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Friendship, Love, and Social Pressure
Much of the drama in Stargirl can be traced through Leo’s friendship and romance with Stargirl. Leo himself is a somewhat shy, retiring young man who prefers to stay in the background. He’s simultaneously drawn to Stargirl’s unusual beauty and yet repelled by the social rejection that comes of associating with her at Mica High. Although Leo is Stargirl’s boyfriend for a while, their overall relationship is fairly representative of the reaction of…
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