Audiobook: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Read by John Ritter
Duration: 4 hours and 24 minutes

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first.

Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.

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My thoughts: This book has followed me everywhere. My little sister used to have it in her shelves, I saw it in colleagues' classrooms, students that I tutored talked about it, and it was always recommended to me by Amazon and Overdrive. So I finally decided to read it but got the audiobook instead since I needed a good "listen" to during my commutes. And you know what? I want to add this book to my classroom.

The story of Stargirl was pretty special. Stargirl was a unique individual who did not follow the norms of the school. She played her ukulele and sang to people, always cheered people on no matter if they were the opposing team, and would leave gifts on people's desks. Because of this, she began to be seen as the weird girl in her high school and students began to isolate her and mistreat her. What I loved about Stargirl was that she remained true to who she was even through all of the bullying.

I enjoyed how Spinelli used Stargirl to send out a message, however, the story was told by Leo and his character annoyed me. Leo was a typical teenager. His thoughts and feelings were exactly of that of a high school boy. He liked Stargirl and began to go out with her. Unfortunately, Leo's anxiety of fitting-in caused him to be a jerk towards Stargirl. To avoid any spoilers, lets just say that the events that occurred in trying to change Stargirl made my blood boil. Stargirl was too good for him!

This audio production was read by John Ritter. He did a fabulous job in portraying Leo. I think because of him, I was irritated with Leo's character even more (lol). Ritter had great pacing and knew how to add emphasis to certain parts. He made listening to this audio a breeze.

As a whole, this was a good book. I liked the message of being true to yourself. Because of this, I want this book available to my students thus I will add it to my classroom even though Leo's character annoyed me. I rate it:

This book counts towards the Audiobook Challenge.