Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli

This blog must be inaugurated with a special book. It's not a new one, it came out in 2000 in the US, but I'm sure it'll become a classic. It's the perfect book to start with.

I was never attracted by this book. It looked too pink and overall silly. Until a friend gave it to me as part of a reading chain very much like a bookcrossing ray. I was immediately hooked, from start to finish.
Who's Stargirl? She is hard to describe.
"She is who we really are. Or were"
She has no ego. She is connected with the energy around her. She plays the ukulele. She has a rat as a pet, named Cinnamon. She believes in enchanted places and feels the joy of being alive just by sitting in the middle of the desert, or dancing without music.
She is not worried by what other people might think of her. In fact, she never paused to even consider it. She lives in her own unique dimension where everyone is worth of her love. Especially Leo. He is the lucky guy. But will he be able to cope with the pressure of such visible attention in a school where nobody ever steps outside the line of conformity?
Leo is suprised at first, then confused and finally simply baffled by her. She is nothing like he or anybody around him has ever seen. She doesn't fit into any definition. And that's why the students in the Mika High School are so fascinated by her. But their initial love for anything "stargirly" is not bound to last long. And the problem is her overflowing empathy with anyone around her, even her team opponents. This is a little too much for the cheerleaders (and for the whole school), who discard of her as quickly as she was hired.
The second half of the story is heartbreaking but I won't tell anything more because I would spoil it.
It's not a tragic book though, nor a pessimistic one. If you liked Stargirl throughout the book,you won't be disappointed at the end. She might even surprised you, when you thought that nothing else could.
You might even want to meet her one day, cause you can't think of a world withouth such a person anymore. Or even better, you might want to be like her. But that won't do. If I learned something from Stargirl is that everybody is unique, and the best way to remember her will be start loving life and yourself. And obvioulsy this book.

other blog reviews
Alix at Not enough bookshelves