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Stargirl
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Stargirl
Unavailable
Stargirl
Audiobook4 hours

Stargirl

Written by Jerry Spinelli

Narrated by John Ritter

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

A modern-day classic and New York Times bestseller that celebrates the power of individuality and personal expression from beloved Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli.

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl, Stargirl." She captures Leo Borlock' s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.

Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.

Don't miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, and Jerry Spinelli's latest novel, The Warden's Daughter, about another girl who can't help but stand out.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 14, 2002
ISBN9780807205730
Unavailable
Stargirl
Author

Jerry Spinelli

Jerry Spinelli received the Newbery Medal for Maniac Magee and a Newbery Honor for Wringer. His other books include Stargirl; Love, Stargirl; Smiles to Go; Loser; Jake and Lily; Hokey Pokey; and The Warden’s Daughter. His novels are recognized for their humor and poignancy, and his characters and situations are often drawn from his real-life experience as a father of six children. Jerry lives with his wife, Eileen, also a writer, in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

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Reviews for Stargirl

Rating: 3.9409166925147185 out of 5 stars
4/5

2,378 ratings191 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I listened to the audiobook read by John Ritter, who I just don't like! His voice his odd and I felt like his voice personality affected the content of the story. Despite this, I came to really like the story and to kind of love Stargirl. What a great creation she is. And so sad to read about her treatment at the hands of a fickle high school crowd and our cowardly narrator Leo Borlock.
    A good read for anyone anywhere, anytime, really. :)Especially anyone who's ever been to school.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    very well written
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    3P"Of all the unusual features of Stargirl, this struck me as the most remarkable. Bad things did not stick to her. Correction: her bad things did not stick to her. Our bad things stuck very much to her. ... I never saw her look in a mirror, never heard her complain. All of her feelings, all of her attentions flowed outward. She had no ego." (p. 52)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Stargirl was a pleasant surprise. I picked it up somewhere along the long-many-hotel interview trail my husband and I went on last year. As it was free, at a book swap program, I wasn't expecting much. Just goes to show how wrong I can be. Why didn't I read this years ago?

    The story follows an unconventional teenage girl as she switches to high school after being home-schooled for many years. It's unique in fact that it's told from the perspective of her soon-to-be boyfriend. He's not always a wise narrator, but the reader learns as lesson as he comes to grips with some of his mistakes.

    I enjoyed Spinelli's easy-going writing style. Even though the story ends on a bittersweet note, Spinelli's kind and caring writer's voice made it all okay.

    Overall, Stargirl's character made a big impact on me. I think we all need to strive to be more like her. Read it and you'll see.

    I bought the sequel shortly after. Hoping Spinelli will add more the series in the future.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I think that before the John Greens and Looking for Alaska and what-not, Jerry Spinelli and Stargirl were there. I'm surprised they haven't made a movie for this yet. It's the most basic and simplest story about going against the flow, and of trying to look at things with awe and wonder.

    We've seen and read a lot of stories about characters who are 'different' who disrupt the status quo, right? But what the hell, I don't think I'll get tired of reading that kind of story. Because we need to look at the world in a different angle. Look at it, and see beauty and be inspired about it, and let other people see this too.

    Stargirl is probably the strangest and most different person you'll ever meet. She sings in the cafeteria with a ukelele, reads the personal classified ads to figure out what to send a person for their birthday, and genuinely doesn't know that that 'isn't done'. She's not like most of us, she's like what we should and can be.

    Sometimes, you don't need a complicated and wholly original plot line to tell a good story. And Stargirl is one of those stories.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I first read this beautiful book years and years ago, and fell madly and deeply in love with it. I committed to not writing my review for it until after I'd read it again recently so it was more fresh in my mind. I loved it even more this time around, which I didn't think was possible.

    This book is basically about a very unique girl who is different from everyone around her. She shakes things up in her community just by being herself. The story revolves around the community's reaction to her being different and what happens when she falls in love with a "normal" guy and tries to change herself to be more "normal" for him.

    For me, the book offers two very valuable lessons to humanity: why it's important to accept others who are different, and why it's bad for anyone to be anything other than who they are at their deepest core. It also teaches little lessons about loving others while not caring what anyone else thinks.

    The reason this book is so close to my heart is because I identify with Stargirl. I found a lot of similarities between her and myself, as well as between what she went through socially and what I went through socially as a result of being different. I even had my own experience of trying to change who I was, to be someone more "normal" for a guy I loved and having the experience nearly destroy me in the process.

    If I ever got to pick a few books to have everyone in the world to read, this would be at the top of the list.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    My husband had this in a stack of well-reviewed YA that he'd been meaning to get around to, and I started reading it on a whim.

    It's a very sweet book. Stargirl Caraway is the new girl at school, and her strange clothes and forward manner (singing happy birthday to students at lunchtime, cheering for *both* teams at sporting events) makes her stand out among her classmates.

    Leo, who tells the story, becomes fascinated and confused by her. I found his point of view quite believable, but I did feel that the school's opinion of Stargirl became a charicature of school-age ostracism, and not entire true to life.

    Still, Stargirl is a completely winning heroine, and I think that if I had read this as a kid, I would have tried to make her a role model.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I definitely expected a lot more from this one. There's a lot of hype surrounding it, so I was hoping for something amazing. It wasn't wonderful, though. It was pretty decent, and an enjoyable read. It was rather slow at the start, setting up Stargirl as someone with no feelings which in turn made sure I didn't care about her character. It got better as it went on, but the narrator annoyed me because he was so shallow. It was very thought-provoking though. Explores the idea of 'fitting in' and whether one should change oneself in order to please other people. It was good, but the beginning and ending were both pretty flimsy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I picked this up as a bit of fluff, but it turned out to be much more. It's a great story about those special people in our life who are not ashamed to be really different, and what a gift they are to us. Written in a very accessible prose style, but it really carries you along. Spinelli made revisiting High School and that need to fit in almost bearable. :)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved this book! Great story about being different from everyone else and their reactions. Really makes you think about how your actions affect others around you... can't wait to recommend!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Stargirl is beautiful. But she is not a full character. For much of the book she feels like a characature. And the story is very jerky. To me it just felt like it needed a lot more crafting by the storyteller. He has great things to say about accepting difference, being full of wonder at the small things in the world and noticing people and feeling for them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is about a girl who moves to a new school is immediately viewed as an outsider due to her unique appearance and personality. She is befriended by a boy at school, whom the point of view of the story is told. This is a great book to encourage individuality and acceptance of peers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This story is about a girl who is very different than everyone else. She stands out and is made fun of because of somethings she does at the school, like sing happy birthday to random students, and cheer for both sides of the football games. Its being told by a boy she befriended and how she changed his life. At the end of the book, after she has moved he still gets birthday presents from her. This book has always been a favorite of mine.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Some of my summer students pointed me toward Jerry Spinelli, and I'm so glad they did. This is another novel that has everything you could ask for in a great piece of young adult literature--a great well-paced story, a wonderful mix of unique and believable characters, and just enough tension to keep things interesting. Spinelli's strength is obviously wrapped up in creating stories which argue for the value of individuality through a lens of humor and personal ethics, and Stargirl is, without doubt, one of those books which I'll remember to hold onto and pass along in the future. This is one of those rare young adult novels that holds out just as much artistic talent and entertainment for adult readers as it offers to young adults. Absolutely recommended as a fun and worthwhile read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book, although it reads a little exaggerated to adults, is very impactful for middle school aged children. The story is told from the perspective of an every-boy who is getting by in early high school when a new, outrageous girl moves to town. Stargirl is unlike any other girl at school and appears to be entirely unaware of others opinions or perceptions. Instead, she is entirely herself and loves every student freely and joyously. The book inspires young people to seek out their true selves and express that without the concern of ridicule. What this book fails to recognize is the importance of young people "trying on" different identities and actually vilifies that process. However, the loveliness and positive message of the book outshine any criticism.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Stargirl is a novel about adolescence. Adolescence is a period when the personality is formed, or crystallized. Fads and fashions are part of that development, and young students' behaviour is known to pass through phases. Non-conformism is often a characteristic of that development. "First love" another.Susan Caraway, the "stargirl", is a girl unlike any other. Most readers may have known a girl like her at high school, although the stargirl is the novel is highly unusual. In fact, she seems to be an exaggerated, larger-than-life version of such a girl, compounded of many characteristics usually found in such students: alternative clothing, a white rat, a philosophical mind-set, alternative life-style, being different in every way, etc.The students through whose eyes the story is observed and told, Leo Borlock, is receptive to "stargirl's" behaviour and being because he is an ambitious, young students with a creative touch, running a school TV channel. He can't help himself but fall in love with stargirl.The message of Stargirl is somewhat ambiguous. Many readers will be infatuated with the character of "stargirl" and adult readers may wish or assume that "stargirl's" behaviour will remain part of her permanent personality. However, the novel clearly suggests that "being stargirl" is a phase, a temporary phenomenon, which can be shed like a snake's skin as a stage in an ongoing development. Once the stage is passed, it will not come back.Stargirl is by all means an interesting story, although its subtleties may be lost on the target audience of young adults. By force of choice, it may be assumed that the story exults this particular life-style form of non-conformism over other forms, a choice never made explicit in the novel. However, the magic lingers, and leaves a lasting impression, on Leo at least.Unfortunately, the Chinese-English bi-lingual edition published by the China Astronautic Publishing House in co-operation with Random House, is riddled with typos, which are a real affront to readers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What makes someone popular or an outcast? Where is the tipping point? Unconventional Stargirl is home schooled until 11th Grade. School life isn't the same for Leo when Stargirl joins his class.A book about fitting in or remaining unique. Fast easy reading but a strong story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love this book so much because I think that many people can relate to Stargirl in a variety of ways. This story accepts a different personality and shows how being different is what makes life interesting and wonderful. It's easy to fall in love with Stargirl as you read this book. I recommend it to anyone who has trouble accepting themselves or others for being themselves or for anyone who is just looking for a new and fun read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is really good! Its about this super king new girl named Stargirl. She gets made fun of because shes nice/proper. She sings happy birthday to everyone even if she isnt there friend! Then she changed herself for her knew boyfriend Leo. He wants her to go back to how she was before he met her. This book is great! =D
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I listened to the audio version of this book and LOVED it. The story is read by John Ritter and he reads Leo's narration pefectly!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli has won many awards. Among these include winning: 2001 ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2003 Arizona Young Readers Award, 2002 New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Award,2001 Texas Lone Star Reading List, 2003 Iowa Teen Book Award,2002 Kentucky Bluegrass Master List, 2001 Maine Student Book Master List, and winner of the 2003 Indiana Young Hoosier Award.Stargirl is a story of an eccentric 10th grade girl who takes a quiet Arizona high school by suprise. Her numerous acts of good and unwavering sureness in herself (from ukulele playing to rat carrying) set her apart from the rest of student body. She quickly becomes enamoured with a young male at school, Leo. The school suddenly turns on Stargirl's uniqueness following a series of misunderstandings, and partake in a shunning of the young couple.This book is perfect for young adults that feel as though they are on the outside looking in. It shows how being unique may not lead you to be popular, but what is really important in life. This book first found me when I was a young adult, and gave me a serious push into becoming the person I am today. Reading it ten years later made it no less poignant than the first time I came across it. Overall, a staple for any middle school student or young adult to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Stargirl is a must read for middle school students. It allows for discussions about peer pressure and conformity, with a well developed example from Stargirl herself. Students can discuss bullying, social relationships and develop an understanding of how their words affect each other.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely amazing. Full of magic, whimzy, and all of the things that make life grand.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I LOVED Stargirl! The book AND the character. I think this is one book that everyone should read, especially kids and teenagers. It really just drives home the message that you should always be yourself. Sure, it seems like a simple enough message, right? But it's amazing to me how many people DON'T follow this. Either because they're scared to be themselves, they want to fit in, or a combination of both those things. Well, Stargirl (the book) says that if you keep hiding your true self, then you won't be happy. Stargirl is full of simple, yet important messages. So, Stargirl walks around baking cupcakes for her class, handing out Valentine Day cards, singing Happy Birthday to all her classmates, and basically walking around doing random acts of kindness. Now that's the type of person I strive to be. Someone selfless, happy, and all-around a nice person. Who cares if Stargirl didn't conform to what people deem is "normal"? Especially when you consider that she was 10 times nicer than any of the so-called "normal" people in her high school. She just happened to be someone truly original. So the hell what? I know for a fact, I would have loved to have met someone like her in high school. I guess that I identify with Stargirl. I wasn't singing Happy Birthday to everyone in school or baking cupcakes (cause I really couldn't bake worth a damn then), but I was sort of the odd-one out in high school because I didn't go out clubbing or drinking, I was sort of shy and always had my head in a book. But I wasn't ostracized for it. In fact, people used to seek me out to help them with their essays. Okay, so I was a little bit of a nerd, but I embraced my geekiness. That's what I (and Stargirl as well) think you should do. Embrace your differences, don't keep them all inside you just because a few people will look at you weird. The ignorant and judgmental ones are the true off ones. So, I think everyone should read Stargirl. It's a simple, sweet, yet full of depth story about a girl who just wants to be herself regardless of what people think of her. Again, this is something that everyone should do (y'know as long as it's not harming you or anyone else).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was very inspiring it showed that you can be different and still nice.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Spinelli weaves a thoughtful, sweet tale enhanced by his notably poetic writing style. This is a book that gives outcasts something to relate to and popular teens a look outside their box. I read it again recently, having not read it since middle school, and enjoy it even more now than I did then.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book had a lot of slow parts but I did like the plot.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm probably the last person on earth to read this book as it seems to be a YA staple. So don't tell me you haven't read it because I won't believe you. First, I love, love, LOVE that the story is told by Leo, a male narrator, one of those rare creatures found sprinkled sporadically throughout YA. It was refreshing to find a love story, a story of first love even, written by a man and told by a man without once feeling a lack of emotional connection. Stargirl was a unique character, as she was meant to be and I was very glad to meet her. She's supposed to embody "different" in a world filled with everyday and same. At times she was over the top, and probably a little too carefree to be believable but I like the idea that she could exist, even if I know she really couldn't. I just can't see that there could ever be anyone so unaffected and heedless of the norms of society to be as completely undefined as Stargirl. But isn't it nice to pretend? "She was bendable light: she shone around every corner of my day."I got caught up in Spinelli's writing, his grasp of human nature, his romanticizing of the mundane. I think he really understands people and even loves the ridiculousness of them. I'll visit his other works in the future.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Stargirl is a book about a girl named Susan(Stargirl), who moved to a new town and entered a new school. The students at Mica High had ways that were very different from Susan (Stargirl), they spoke, acted, and dressed alike. Susan (Stargirl) on the other hand was unique she dressed, acted, and spoke different which made Mica High students question her behavior. She was a happy-go-lucky student that sang Happy B-day to everyone, decorated her desk, played her ukulele, and carried her pet rat Cinnamon everywhere with her. Although curious the students at Mica High begin to admire Susan's behavior and started to look up to her. She became a cheerleader and enjoy the experience a little too much, during a basketball she cheered her Mica and the other team, which angried the other students. This beahvior led to her being kicked off the cheerleading squad and to be outcasted by the others. Leo a student at Mica noticed Susan from the very start, but seemed to pay more attention to her when all the other shunned her. Susan and Leo became great friends, she helped him to look past what others think and that it's ok to be yourself. Stargirl would be good for junior high or high school students, because those are the times when children are trying to find themselves. Bullying and teasing usually happens around this time, letting students know that it's ok to be different may help with self-esteem issues. Creating a campaign to help motivate students to be happy with themselves would be good. I enjoyed this book, Stargirl was so happy and sure of herself. She was upbeat, positive, and happy all the time even when others were cruel to her. Stargirl was an inspiration to me her strength to ignore others spoke volumes. Instead of acting them she continued to be herself, and continued to treat them good regardless of how they treated her.