Jerry Spinelli
Newbery Award winning author Jerry Spinelli does not believe in sequels. "Let wherever it (the book) ends reverberate." he says. And so it was with Stargirl, his bestselling YA novel (published in 2000) about 17 year old Stargirl Caraway.
That book, told from Leo's (her boyfriend) point of view ends with Leo at 33 and neither he nor we knowing what has happened to Stargirl, although it is pretty clear that she is ready to reenter his life.
It was a perfect ending for a lyrical, magical book
So, why a sequel now?
The idea came from the same place that many of his inspirations do, his beloved wife, author and poet, Eileen.
"Why don't you put out a Stargirl journal?" she said on the way home from the movies one night. "You could also write a 'giftie' little holiday book related to Stargirl, something that might be at the register, rather than in the book section."
Jerry Spinelli thought that was a wonderful idea. Since it was a Stargirl book, the holiday should be Solstice, not Christmas.
But, as for many writers, their creation had her own ideas. Much as he tried to "fulfill the assignment" his words kept gravitating toward a story. Love, Stargirl takes place a year after Stargirl and is told entirely from Stargirl's point of view. Yes, Solstice figures prominently in the story.
Let’s talk to Jerry Spinelli about Stargirl and his life
Sharon Levin: Stargirl changes her name, did you ever want to change yours?
Jerry Spinelli: My nickname was ‘Spit’ and I didn’t like that. I tried to change it in college, announcing one day that I wanted to be called Weasel. It only lasted a week or two. Apparently you can’t give yourself a nickname, the world calls you what it wants to, as I showed in Maniac Magee.
SL:But doesn't Stargirl choose her name?.
JS:Yes, she is successful in naming herself. I guess I took both sides of that same issue in separate books.
Spinelli is quite defensive when asked about the criticism that Stargirl is not a realistic portrait of a teenage girl. I asked him about that.
JS: Stargirl is very real. I know her, I married her.... What kind of a sad thing does it say about us that such a person seems out of reach? We're reaching out to that flying hem of her long flowing skirt. We can reach her, we just have to run a little faster, be a little better.
SL:Would you have taken Stargirl's side in high school?
JS:I was not courageous enough. Leo reflects my high school persona.
SL:What makes Eileen Stargirl?
JS:Stargirl's 'happy wagon' (where she adds or subtracts stones based on her happiness level) is straight from Eileen's life. One of the more prominent issues in Stargirl is a surprising lack of appreciation for Stargirl's kindnesses. I have seen this happen with Eileen.
Eileen gives gifts for no reason. She connects with everyone even those she doesn't know well. Once, when Eileen was younger, she worked as a maid in a hotel. She would sometimes leave a little drawing as a personal touch. She was told to do her job 'as written' but it went against her nature to do so. She continued to leave the drawings and was fired.
Spinelli's adoration of his wife of thirty years (with whom he has six children and sixteen grandchildren) is palpable. No wonder Stargirl comes through so clearly in his books.
He is also thrilled that his books have inspired numerous Stargirl societies. The first one was in Kent, Ohio. Started when the girls were in eight grade, the society continued into high school. They meet every month and do 'Stargirl things'. They throw spare change on the sidewalk, slip encouraging, anonymous notes into lockers at school, invite accomplished women to speak at their meetings and hold inner beauty contests.
"They're an example of what can be done," says Spinelli, "this is a legacy of which I'm prouder than the book itself."
So, does it work to have a sequel to Stargirl? Any time spent in Stargirl's world is time well spent.
Will Leo and Stargirl end up together? One only has to look at Jerry Spinelli and his Stargirl to know the answer.
Contributor: Sharon Levin
Book Corner—April 2008
Reviews
Love, Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
In this sequel to Stargirl, the free-spirited, openhearted title character gets to tell her own story in the form of “the World’s Longest Letter” to her ex-boyfriend Leo. It’s really more of a series of journal entries as delightfully offbeat Stargirl tells of events over the course of a year in her new home in a small town in Pennsylvania, far away from Arizona and Leo. She’s lonely and pining for him, but soon meets some entertainingly wacky neighbors, from impudent five-year-old Dootsie to angry adolescent Alvina, kind but agrophobic Betsy Lou, widowed Charlie, who talks to his dead wife in the graveyard daily, and handsome Perry, a thief who almost steals Stargirl’s heart. The winter solstice project that this kind, home schooled, hippie-ish 15-year-old undertakes brings together all her new friends, and helps to bring hope back into her life, too. Fans of Stargirl will be charmed by this satisfying sequel. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2007, Random House, 288p., $16.99 and $19.99. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, July 2007 (Vol. 41, No. 4)).
In a year-long series of letters to Leo, the boyfriend who “dumped” her in Spinelli’s masterpiece Stargirl (2000), readers learn what happened to Stargirl after her disappearance from Mica, Arizona. In her new life in Pennsylvania, Stargirl is once again home schooled but manages to engage with a gallery of characters as unconventional as she is, from agoraphobic Betty Lou, who has not left her house for nine years, to elderly Charlie, who spends all day in the cemetery with his dead wife. The rare reader coming to the sequel without having read the previous book should enjoy this portrait of a free spirit spreading her contagious joy in living throughout her new community, culminating in a radiant collective celebration of the winter solstice. Fans of Stargirl are likely to be disappointed. In the first book, Stargirl was magical, fantastic, larger than life, the stuff of lasting legends. Here, speaking in her own fairly generic teen voice, she is reduced to reality, telling outright everything that in the first book we were left to imagine. It is also disheartening to see Stargirl so obsessively lovesick over Leo, and then similarly infatuated with an unattractive new candidate for her affections, Perry, who divides his amorous attention among a giggling “harem.” Finally, the end of Love, Stargirl does not mesh with the end of Stargirl, the first book where Leo loses all contact with Stargirl; here he receives frequent news of her ongoing adventures and sends her an affirmative solstice message. The sequel drains Stargirl of much of her starlight. 2007, Knopf, $16.99. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature).
One of Spinelli's most memorable characters returns her to tell her own story. Nearly a year after leaving Arizona and Leo Borlock behind, Stargirl, homeschooling again in Pennsylvania, is trying to get past her high school experience. Unable to forget her love for Leo, she writes him the world's longest letter and shares her life without him. In her debut novel, Stargirl was magical, as alien as her fellow students thought her to be. In this book, she is both as extraordinary as expected and surprisingly real. Readers who loved her as the free-spirited object of Leo's conflicted affections will see the heartbroken but enduring Stargirl as a friend, a character to whom they can relate. Spinelli fills the novel with unforgettable characters-six-year-old Dootsie, agoraphobic divorcee Betty Lou, and Alvina, a fierce and confused tween. The other teens in the novel regrettably are the least interesting. Perry, perhaps the boy who will replace Leo in Stargirl's heart, is an alleged bad-boy, with a fan club of bright, funny girls, but he, like Leo, is never so spectacular that readers can understand the fascination. Although the letter format adds little to the story, this book completes the touching and inspiring story of Spinelli's beloved heroine, and readers who have been unable to forget her in the seven years since she appeared are sure to be eager to meet her again. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2007, Random House, 288p., $16.99 and PLB $19.99. Ages 11 to 18. Vikki Terrile (VOYA, August 2007 (Vol. 30, No 3)).
Best Books:
- Kirkus Book Reviews Stars, July 1, 2007, United States
ISBN: 978-0-375-91375-4
ISBN: 0-375-81375-6
ISBN: 0-375-91375-0
Added 04/24/08
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