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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Okanagan Regional Library.
Jul 23, 2017
Her only crime was giving too much love. This one of my favorite kids’ books, and one of the few books that made me shed more than a few tears. I’ve also seen it have a positive effect on middle- and high school students. I read it as an adult, and wish I’d read it forty years ago. Basically, it’s a tale of nonconformity, and it’s a simple little “slice of life” story. Beneath that, the reader is taken on a journey of discovery of their own attitudes and preconceptions as the narrator Leo discovers this strange person who calls herself “Stargirl”. Besides being “realistic fiction”, this is also fairy-tale (is she an Elvish princess? A fairy goddaughter? A younger version of Giselle in Disney’s “Enchanted”?); this is an allegory (is she Jesus? The trial, crucifixion, and resurrection are all figuratively there, with some other hints – there are even characters corresponding to Peter and Mary Magdalene); this is a myth (is she the “spider woman” of Campbell’s monomyth?), and this is a classical tragedy (is Leo his own undoing?). At the climax, when this dream has become a nightmare and the reader is angry with poor Leo (who in turn is angry with himself and out in the desert alone, fuming), the unthinkable happens. “The ice shatters” and the whole story is turned on its head (Tolkien’s “eucatastrophe” on a smaller scale); we readers realize – well, yes, right: nothing else could possibly have taken place. …But by then it’s too late for Leo. Or is it? There. Hope that didn’t have too many spoilers. An adult can read it in a couple of hours; do so before the movie comes out, supposedly in the next couple of years (2018 or 19).