Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli

Warning: Spoilers (duh)

From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, hallways hum “Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. Until they are not. Leo urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her - normal.

 Secondary Warning:
This book suffers from Manic Pixie Dream Girl syndrome. 

 I had heard a lot about Star Girl through the glorious grapevine of BookYube. I was told this was the book that celebrate non-conformity (an act that as a complete lunatic I am all for.) However, I thought this book glorified and romanticised being weird, rather than the idea of being yourself and individualism.

Leo is a pretty bland kid at the beginning, he's popular but doesn't particularly stick out. Enter Stargirl (real name Susan) who is admittedly delightfully quirky and odd to an insane degree. It's not that I didn't like Stargirl herself, I thought she was sweet and incredibly kind and I loved that. It was her need to erase herself, I don't know whether I'm looking too deep into this book but that girl had issues but they were just paved over with eccentricities and never tackled, which as a reader leaves me feeling incomplete. I love a good open end like any other word nerd but dammit, a little character development never hurt anyone. 

Regarding character development let's tackle Leo. Leo is well (excuse the language) an asshole. He's incredibly selfish  and judgmental but hates to be judged. But worse than that he's spineless. I feel like I'm supposed to forgive him for this by the end of it. That the way he treats the girl he supposedly loves become okay because once she disappears, he learns his lesson, but I don't. I'm still mad at the guy, he was an ass to her. I don't know whether that's me being an adult and knowing myself more than I did when I was 15 (I now understand why adults say they would never  go back) and yes, I'm aware I too went through a stage of self image of liking someone but being embarrassed of them but I just kept hoping he would come through. That in the end he'd take her to the dance and it wouldn't matter about the freezing out or the name calling. My faith it turns out was misplaced because in the end, he did not love her for exactly who and what she was.Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on Leo and Spinelli, this is a young teen book after all. I'm sure 15 year old me would have understood Leo a lot  more than I do now, but I was in his head and the potential was there and yet, I feel let down by him. 

That's not to say this isn't a lovely book. It's well written and witty and fun. It's charming really and Stargirl (when she's not being unrealistically naive and uneducated about the world) is just adorable and lovely and I want to cuddle her and tell her she's perfect just as she is. This book made me mad but it also made me smile, a lot. The part with the rocks! Adorable. 

I am aware that there is a sequel from Stargirl's point of view which is basically a very long letter to Leo. Do I bother? Is it any good? Let me know.