Identity And Conformity In Stargirl, By Jerry Spinelli

In the novel Stargirl a teenager in high school is very outgoing and a little “weird” to the other students at Micah High School. She has to face a big decision to become a conformist to the high school norms or be a nonconformist and be her unique self. She meets a boy Leo who will impact her decision heavily. The other students are very rude to her because they are, in away, scared of her because she isn’t “normal”. Archie a old man that students often went to for stories understood Stargirl and helped other to except her.

People try to hard to be popular in Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. Stargirl becomes Susan to try to be popular, but it did not work. The most important lesson that we learned from Stargirl is that popularity does not matter, no matter how much you are hated.

I have chosen to read Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I have chosen this book based on my personal interest and interest in this specific genre, which is fiction, young adult literature, and children's literature. This book takes place at Mica Area High School in Arizona. Leo Borlock is your average eleventh grader, and he is the only one who accepts Stargirl for who she is. Sarah "Stargirl" Caraway is a unique tenth grader, and she is rejected by everybody in the school. She dances in the rain, plays the ukulele at lunch, and wears strange outfits. Stargirl had small bursts of popularity, but they've never lasted long. Soon after Leo accepts Stargirl, they began a relationship together. As the relationship

Stargirl was another fantastic book Jerry Spinelli. He added interesting characters, such as, Leo the quiet and shy one, Stargirl unique and fun one, Dori Dilson Stargirl only friend, Archie the wise and elderly one, Kevin Leo’s friend that likes the stoplight, and Hillari Kimble the popular bratty one. This book takes place in MICA, Arizona. Now, in paragraph one I will discuss the plot of Stargirl. Next, I will talk about the theme in Stargirl. Finally, I will evaluate Jerry Spinelli`s job on the novel Stargirl.

The feeling of being judged for the experiences an individual faces can be detrimental to the person 's personality by that these experiences result in you trying to become someone you are not so that you hide what society feels is your flaw, your race. Starr lives in two completely separate worlds, Garden Heights and the area surrounding Williamson High School. These two worlds hinders Starr’s ability to voice her opinions and thoughts about anything because in both of these areas there is this fear of overstepping boundaries. Overstepping boundaries in either area causes an individual to become threatened, for example, in Garden Heights, Starr silences herself whenever she is around gang members because she is frightened that the gang members will harm both her and her family for her opinions. Starr silences herself when she is at Williamson High School, especially since she is one out of the few African Americans that attends there, because her opinion is outnumbered by the majority of the population who are either ignorant about the issues that affects Starr’s race or cares less to even hear issues that occurs to others beside them.

Jerry Spinelli’s book, Stargirl, is a fiction book that tells a story of a young student named Leo. Leo attends Mica High school along his best friend Kevin and the other Mica High students. The school is a completely average school with cliques and social expectations. That is until Mica High is flipped upside down when the ukulele playing-new girl walks in. Stargirl steals the attention of every Mica student as she dances down the halls, runs across football fields, and sings happy birthday to every student every day without a care. Her oblivious attitude blinds her from seeing how the school only cheers for her because they think she’s a joke; some students claim she was placed in the school as an actor to pump school spirit, others believe she’s out of this world, and

The protagonist, Lily Owens is isolated from her community s because her lifestyle is different than others. Lily’s mother is dead. Her father, T-Ray, is abusive and never cares for Lily's needs. "He did not care that I wore clothes I made for myself in home economics class...outfits only the Pentecostal girls wore. I might as well have worn a sign on my back: I am not popular and never will be,"(Kidd p.8).

ᎡᎬᏙIᎬᏔ: There were various theories I had in mind for where “Renegades” could end up, epic ideas that would take a tremendous amount of skill to defeat the odds, but I believed Meyer had great things in store based off everything I have read from her. However, “Renegades” is nothing like anything Meyer has written before. Despite enjoying Meyer’s branching out from her usual fairytale retellings, I cannot deny the fact that I felt disappointed by the near painless approach of the world she chose to take.

This book by Laurie Halse Anderson follows Melinda a teenage girl with a huge secret to hide from her friends-well that is if everyone did not hate her already. With the traditional teen angst and the pressures of high school this book looks at how speaking or not speaking can either hinder or hurt you. In the end which is better to stay silent or speak up? With a positive message Speak is an adored book that deals with real issues and how to resolve them.

When this romance initially commences, Leo notices people treating him differently as if he is an alien. This is because Stargirl is an extraordinarily typical girl who doesn’t track the culture of the school. She plays an ukulele, keeps a pet rat in her tote bag, treats everyone with kindness and serenades them in the lunchroom on their birthdays. As a result Leo requests Stargirl to transform her identity so she can fit into the school, and people won’t look down upon them. He wants her to conform into the society. She adjusts her name into “Susan”—an “ordinary” high school girl. The reader discovers in this progression that she is discontented pretending to be what she isn’t. Ultimately, she is happiest when she is factual to herself. As she articulates “Every once in a while someone comes along who is . . . a little more in touch with the stuff we’re made of, it’s our identity what really perceives who I am rather than assimilating I rather enjoy myself as who I really am. ” (Spinelli, Stargirl 177). This advocates that perhaps one can take a message from her and be a little truer to one self. Rather than following what others say and having no genuine identity, it is vital to build up an own identity a way one can be referred to as.

In the highly acclaimed book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, life in the nondescript Mica Area High School in Arizona is rather dull until a unique and oddball girl by the name of Stargirl Caraway arrives and turns everything around. Told in the perspective of a boy named Leo, the story is about how Stargirl stands out from the mainstream life of the high school body. They have a hard time reacting to her weird and quirky habits, but they begin to accept her until she ends up becoming the most popular girl in the school. This all goes down wind though, and Stargirl is faced with the fact that she needs to start fitting in and acting normal. In a five star review on Goodreads, Jared states that he loves this book because it’s about individuality

“She is today. She is tomorrow”. These are the words that are plastered on posters all across Mica. Susan Caraway, more commonly known as “Stargirl”, has recently announced that she will be running for mayor in Mica’s upcoming election. Stargirl is recognized amongst Micans for her generous, outgoing personality as well as her individuality. These three traits are what would make her Mica’s ideal mayor.

The positive reflection of the high school experience is often measured by one’s social standing. There, often, exists the Popular versus the Loner or thereabout. Movies like Mean Girls, Heathers, and even Harry Potter document the lives of “upper tier” versus “lower tier”. In Carrie, this trend also follows with Sue Snell- the popular girl- versus Carrie- the loner- but upon deeper reflection, one can clearly see the similarities between the girls and their respective lives. They are both bound by the themes outlined in the entire book: isolation, understanding, and redemption.

Stargirl is the main character from the novel “Stargirl”. Stargirl is a unique character, which explains why I’d like to be like her. She is a total rebel. She does things her own way, and most of the time she doesn't seem to be concerned about whether or not people think she's strange. She is a natural teacher, even though it doesn't seem to be her intention to teach, but it comes to her naturally. For example, she points out all the little things that she notices and finds the beauty of them. Star girl also is a victim of bullying yet she flat out doesn't notice. She is too busy being compassionate towards the very same people who treat her like dirt.

Stargirl was a book about a boy named Leo who was narrating a high school experience with a girl he loved, a girl named Stargirl. She would keep her name until she changed it because it didn’t fit her anymore. She was home schooled up until 10th grade when she went to Mica High. The students saw her school-spirit and loved her, but then they turned on her. She was shunned by everyone but Leo because she was different. She and Leo had a romantic relationship. He was there for her when no one was, but he did push her towards being normal, and that was something she didn’t like. Stargirl, who is also Susan, was cheerful, energetic, and caring. When she was on the cheer team she was the one with the most energy, cheering on the basketball team for every point scored. Congratulating everyone for every good thing that was done in the whole city of Mica. She would also give gifts, send cards, and sing “Happy Birthday” to people while playing the ukulele. Even though she was so happy, sometimes it was an act. People started not liking her. No one would even look in her direction and inside she hated it. She changed herself so people would like her. She changed her clothes, her hair, put on makeup and