Stargirl (novel)

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

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Mica High School in Arizona, attended by first-person narrator Leo Borlock, is getting a new student: Stargirl. So far, she has only received private lessons and stands out among the adapted students. Any group behavior is foreign, Geburtstagskindern she sings in the cafeteria on her ukulele serenade, their willingness as a cheerleader at basketball cheer the opposing team, all of these can they become interessantesten student. However, none of her classmates understands her, so that enthusiasm quickly turns into discrimination and ostracism. Leo, in love with Stargirl, desperate and increasingly exposed to exclusion himself, finally advises her to adapt more to peer pressure. The consequences are devastating.

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Spinelli succeeds in realistically portraying life at a school, with its constraints that the collective exerts on the individual in order to be recognized by the group. At the same time he praises the freedom and strength of the individual who has to come into conflict with the collective and have to choose between self-denial and self-assertion. Leo stands between his socialization as part of the group, the fears of being excluded from this group and his desire to help Stargirl who does not want to follow the rituals and is thus alone.

Above all, however, the emotional world of Leo is shown credibly. Stargirl is his first love and the student is torn between enthusiasm and horror, strength and weakness.

At the same time, the author draws haunting images of the nature of Arizona , especially the desert.