Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Chance Norton's Book Review

Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

***

Stargirl is about what happens when a person is truly being who they are on the inside, without influences from the school, peers, or television. It is about figuring out who you are, or what you aren’t because of the influences around you. Jerry Spinelli’s book will make you think about why you act the way you do and why some people have different acts for different friends. I personally do behave differently around a friend that I have had basically for my entire life than I do around friends that I met this year or the year before. I am sure that almost everyone does this, unconsciously at least, and that is why a girl like Stargirl is so controversial even in a high school. No one can believe that a girl like her could exist, like Hillari said in chapter two, “She isn’t real, she is an actress. It’s a scam to make us have school spirit.” No one behaves this way because no one either has the courage or everyone wants so badly to be accepted that they cannot allow themselves to.

This is a book about how things can go wrong, and right, when you let all of yourself be seen, all day, every day.

3 comments:

TheBookNurse said...

Book club discussion on this was a good one. It's nice to read a book that has so much to talk about after reading it.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Books should have a lot of discussion and thought attached to them. Stargirl is who we should look up to, rather than the norms society has set for us.

Anonymous said...

I've heard a lot about this book. I may be putting it on my reading list. Plus I enjoy books that are able to provide long discussions.