| Booktalk
#1
Stargirl was like a breath
of fresh air, but we were so used to pollution we didn't appreciate her.
In the lunchroom she serenades people with her ukulele on their birthday.
She does nice things for total strangers. When Stargirl joins the
cheerleading squad she cheers for the other team as well. Perhaps
the strangest thing is that she seems to like me. At first I'm too
nervous to notice Stargirl’s noticing me. Once I get up the courage
to acknowledge her the world seems to take on new meaning. Until
the school turned on Stargirl, and by association, turned on me.
It was hard having people ignore me. So hard that I convinced Stargirl
to become like everyone else. Unfortunately, that meant she was no
longer Stargirl. She loved me for what I was, but I couldn't love
her for herself. I couldn't be brave enough to love her when it meant
others despised me. I let myself down. (Mary Huebscher, Librarian,
Holy Cross of San Antonio, San Antonio, TX marwood45@hotmail.com)
Booktalk #2
I’d like you to think about
what would happen if this person showed up at ______________.
Her name is Stargirl. That’s
not her real name, they say she gave herself the name. She dresses however
the spirit moves: it might be in a pioneer-style dress; it might be in
bright red overalls. She carries a ukelele with her and sings during lunchtime.
If it’s your birthday, you’ll be PERSONALLY serenaded. She carries her
pet mouse Cinnamon in her backpack with her. Before each class period she
covers her desk with a lovely tablecloth and a vase with a daisy in it.
So whaddya think? What would be the reaction of you and your friends?
Leo, who’s the 16-year-old
narrator of this book says his school’s reaction could be summed up in
one word … HUH? Here’s his description of Stargirl:
She laughed when there was
no joke. She danced when there was no music.
She had no friends, yet she
was the friendliest person in school.
In her answers in class, she
often spoke of sea horses and stars, but she did not know what a football
was.
She was elusive. She was today.
She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting
shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds
we tried to pin her to a corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely
went through and away she flew.
The interesting thing was,
Stargirl’s enthusiasm began to make her popular. So the cheerleaders asked
her to join the squad. Do you think Stargirl fit the mold of a cheerleader?
No, of course not. And things began to turn against Stargirl again. You
know why? She cheered for both sides. And when games were close and important
games were on the line, this didn’t go over well at all.
So Leo, our narrator, is totally
and completely confused, because you know what? He’s finding himself quite
attracted to Stargirl. On the one hand he wants her to be more normal,
so she’ll fit in with everyone else, and so he can hang out with her and
not feel the accusatory stares of his friends. But Stargirl’s unpredictable
spirit is who she is – it’s what makes her Stargirl. Leo’s torn – he really
likes Stargirl, but the opinion of his friends matter to him a lot.
What to do with Stargirl…
What would you do with Stargirl?
What do you imagine happens
to Stargirl?
Susan Bartel (Colorado
Blue Spruce Children's Award)
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Booktalk #3
I'm Leo…Leo Borlock. I started
collecting Porcupine ties when I was little and my uncle Pete gave me his
when we moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona. I have two now…I mean, how
many porcupine neckties are there anyway?!
It was on my first day of school
in eleventh grade that Mica Area High School encountered Stargirl. We were
NOT a hotbed of nonconformity. Anyone who somehow mistakenly distinguishes
themselves quickly snaps back into place, like rubber bands.
Hillari said Stargirl was fake…a
plant by the administration, or some such. Everyone at Mica wore pretty
much the same clothes, talked the same way, ate the same stuff, etc. Not
Stargirl. Normal for her were long, floor-brushing pioneer dresses and
skirts. She was as likely to show up in a flapper dress, kimono, buckskin,
or miniskirt with green stockings with ladybug and butterfly pins crawling
up one leg.
She always had her ukulele
at lunch and often serenaded someone with "Happy Birthday" with it. She
said "Hello" to perfect strangers in the halls, asked questions in class
(whether or not they had anything to do with the subject), carried her
pet rat to school in her canvas bag, danced in the rain, ran cross-country
until she got kick off the team for running the wrong way. She was just
weird. We couldn't define her. She was uncomfortable. She couldn't be real.
We couldn't let her be real.
My buddy Kevin and I wanted
to sign her up for Hot Seat, our in-school TV show. I was producer/director
and Kevin was the host. Each month we interviewed a different student…always
the model citizen type, but not really interesting. Stargirl was something
else. She would definitely get our ratings up. The only problem was that
Kevin was convinced that she was fake and his plan was to EXPOSE her on
our show. Matter of fact, Kevin WANTED her to be a fake.
But, I knew somehow, that she
wasn't a fake. She never made the show. She did, however, make the cheerleading
squad. After a basically hilarious performance at one of our poorly attended
halftime shows, she was asked by blond, beautiful Mallory Stillwell to
become a cheerleader. She agreed. Eventually, she even wore her uniform.
But, she was never truly a cheerleader, simply Stargirl dressed up like
one. She still did her weird things, but we were beginning to decide that
we liked having her around. She entertained us and gave us something to
look forward to in our dull conformist world.
Then came Hillari's birthday.
The day before, Hillari told Stargirl in the lunchroom that she didn't
want Stargirl singing to her. "I won't sing to you," said Stargirl. Yep,
true to her word, Stargirl didn't sing Happy Birthday TO Hillari. No, she
sang the words and used Hillari's name, but she sang it to ME.
Kevin's the one that asked
her what everyone was thinking: "Why him?" Stargirl looked at me mischievously
while tilting her head, tugged my earlobe and said, "He's cute."
Sam Marsh (Colorado
Blue Spruce Children's Award)
Booktalk #4
Leo Borlock is a tenth grade student at Mica High. He also happens
to be the creator of the student-produced cable television talk show called
Hot Seat. He’s always on the lookout for new guests.
On the first day of the new school year, Leo arrives thinking that it will
be just another boring year. Then Stargirl arrives on the scene.
She wears odd clothes, brings her pet rat to school in her big sunflower
bag, carries a ukulele she uses to serenade fellow students on their birthdays,
and doesn’t seem to mind that other kids are making fun of her. Leo
is drawn to her, at first to ask her to be a guest on his show, but then
he realizes he is drawn to her because he really likes her and might be
starting to fall for her.
Stargirl becomes a cheerleader and starts to win over everyone at Mica
High, but then her non-conformity goes too far. How will the students
treat her now? How will this all affect Leo, who realizes he really
wants to spend more time with Stargirl?
This is a story about friendship, love, and how your peers treat you.
Read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. You won’t want to put it down.
(Kelly Michaelis, kmichaelis@baraboo.k12.wi.us,
Baraboo Middle School, Baraboo, WI) |
