Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Stargirl Caraway was a big shock Mica Area High School. You see Mica High was not exactly a hotbed of nonconformity.

Stargirl with her long dresses and her ukulele. Stargirl who liked to sing happy birthday to other students in the lunch room and lead cheers at the football games. Stargirl who danced in the rain, laughed even when there was no joke. Stargirl, the girl with no friends, who was the friendliest person in school.

Yes the arrival of Stargirl knocked the whole student body off balance. Some claimed she was an alien, others that she was auditioning for a television show. Some argued that she was the result of too much home schooling, while others claimed that she lived in a bus with her ex-hippy parents.

By late fall Stargirl was leading a rebellion at Mica. By her actions she was saying that everyone was unique, every person important. Individuality became IN at Mica High for the first time that anyone could remember. The whole student body fell in love with Stargirl, including one Leo Borlock.

It was a golden time at Mica High, but it couldn't last. For a little individuality goes along way at a place like Mica. And when Stargirl's nonconformity begins to seem peculiar to some, Mica High turns against her with a vengeance.

Read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. A story of love, individuality, and porcupine neckties.

by Tom Reynolds of Sno-Isle Library System

2003 Evergreen Nomination