Stargirl (novel)

Stargirl is the title of a novel, Jerry Spinelli, published in 2000. The German translation is by Andreas Steinhöfel.

Action

The Mica High School in Arizona, who attended the first-person narrator Leo borlock, gets a new student: Stargirl. She received so far only private lessons and stands out among the matched students. Any group behavior is foreign to her, birthday children she sings in the cafeteria on her ukulele serenade, their willingness to cheer as a cheerleader in basketball also the opposing team, all of which will make them the most interesting student. However, none of her classmates she understands, so the enthusiasm quickly turns into discrimination and ostracism. The fell in love with Stargirl Leo, desperate and themselves increasingly exposed to an exclusion, advises her finally to adapt more to peer pressure. The consequences are devastating.

Description

Spinelli manages a realistic portrayal of life at a school with its constraints exerted by the collective to the individual, to be recognized by the group. At the same time he praises the freedom and strength of the individual who has come into conflict with the collective and has to choose between self-denial and assertion. Leo stands between his socialization as part of the group 's fears of being excluded from this group and its desire to help Stargirl who will not follow the rituals and thus stands alone.

But above all, the emotional world of Leos is presented credible. Stargirl is his first love and the student is torn between enthusiasm and horror, between strength and weakness.

At the same time, the author draws vivid pictures of nature in Arizona, especially the desert.

• Literary work
• Literature ( 20th century)
• Literature ( English )
• Literature (United States)
• Development of novel
• Children 's and Youth Literature