Reader's Journal #1

July 11, 2011
7th Grade
Dear Readers,

 The book I will be blogging about this week is a great book. It is called Stargirl. The author is new to me, his name is Jerry Spinelli. The book takes place in a made up place in Arizona called Mica. I was interested in reading this book because it involves diversity and romance. Those are two key things I look for in a book. Stargirl- the main character- goes to Mica High School. She is first hated for some reason, but then when you think things couldn’t get worse, they did. She was soon shunned for being different. There is one passage that stuck out to me and that a want to quote. On page 5 paragraphs 3. “And now the girl was standing, slinging her bag over one shoulder and marching among the tables, strumming and singing and strutting and twirling. Heads swung, eyes followed her, mouths hung open. Disbelief. When she came by our table, I got my first good look at her face. She wasn’t gorgeous, wasn’t ugly. A sprinkle of freckles crossed the bridge of her nose. Mostly, she looked like a hundred other girls in the school, except for 2 things. She wore no makeup, and her eyes were the biggest I had ever seen, like deer’s eyes caught in headlights. She twirled as she went past, her flaring skirt brushing my pant leg, and then she marched out of the lunchroom.” I think that even though they didn’t say anything, it’s just the way they talk about her. It’s like just because she does weird things, they are automatically better than her. I also say that because it says mid book that everybody starts hating her for just being herself. I think its cruel how people can act when you are not like the rest of them. All those people have no right telling her how to act. Just because she doesn’t try being like the rest of them. I would recommend this book to anyone that has problems fitting in, so they could try to cope with their problems. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 because it showed diversity and that you shouldn’t give in to peer pressure. My feelings toward some of the characters were not very good. I thought that Hillari was very snobby and had a bit too much of a big mouth on her. When I was reading something that I thought was really interesting. Stargirl actually becomes a cheerleader. People still hated her. The reason was she would cheer for her team, but also cheered for the other team when they made a basket. I felt that it wasn’t fair for people to just despise a person for being nice and just trying to fit in. This book taught me that appearances don’t matter. Whether it’s on the inside or out you should just be yourself. I hope that everyone that reads this blog will want to read this book. I also want people to feel the same way I felt  while reading this book.

Sincerely,

Gabriella Goldstein :)