john green for children

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago

"Nothing’s more fun than being carried away." Stargirl is the happiest, bravest, most carefree, most non-conformist girl you will ever meet. She is everything every school girl wishes she could be but will never dare to be. She does the last thing someone who wants to fit in will ever do.• She smiles at everyone.• She dances in the rain.• She wears the strangest outfit and wears no makeup. (Not anything like that. I’m exaggerating. Lol.)• She sings every celebrant a happy birthday with her ...

I had high expectations for this book, but I was let down in every way. I got so incredibly bored, but I couldn't live with myself knowing I couldn't finish a mere 186 page book, so I plunged onward. By page 80, bookmarking the craziest sentences was the only way I kept myself sane.I'll try to organize my complaints critiques into a list. Spoilers are not marked, proceed with caution. Not that there's much to spoil about this book.So, my problems with Stargirl:1. THIS IS NOT HOW POPULARITY WORKS...

I feel conflicted about this book. I liked the message it had about nonconformity and kindness and being yourself and selflessness, but I didn't like Stargirl. I don't know if it's allowed to say I didn't like her, but I didn't. I respect her and admire her, but there's such a thing as being too thoughtful and kind--as in, disregarding someone's feelings--which really makes it thoughtless and not nice at all. Like, the idea of singing to people on their birthdays during lunch. It's a nice idea, ...

I probably had unreasonably high hopes for this book just because of its author. Maniac Magee was my favorite book when I was a kid, and it remains my favorite preteen chapter book to this day. But Stargirl didn't move me the way that first taste of Jerry Spinelli's work did. In fact, I was so underwhelmed that I had little interest in finishing the book, but it was a fast enough read, so I stuck with it.The execution itself isn't bad. The character of Stargirl could easily have become a paper d...

I read this in middle school as required reading and absolutely LOVED it, but coming back to it years later, I couldn't help but notice some of its flaws. I got very attached to the story despite it being less than 200 pages and I do love the moral that Spinelli is trying to get across, but I was not a big fan of the characters. Although, with a book this short, exaggerated characters are pretty much a necessity. I recommend this book to everyone, though, especially middle schoolers who feel the...

Very sweet. I had this book lying around and picked it up to give myself a break from the Holocaust Monster I've been chipping away at for the past month, and it definitely did the trick. The kids seem a little innocent - more like elementary school than high school - but dammit why CAN'T there be beautiful and magical teenagers who hold hands at the movies and give their friends cupcakes and valentines? Why do they have to do drugs and have sex and be JERKS all the time?

For some weird reason I couldn't put this book down! You should read it. It grabbed my attention and I am a very picky reader! :)

Stargirl is an amazing book about individuality and nonconformism. A home-schooled girl named Stargirl begins attending the public high school for her sophomore year. Stargirl is different.She learns everybody's birthdays and on the day of, she sings them a happy birthday song -- accompanying herself on the ukulele -- in the middle of the lunch room, whether they want her to or not. She watches a young boy who lives across the street so that she can create a scrapbook for him without his knowled...

Okay, I'm going to say it. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is a young adult classic (maybe even a children's classic but that's really a cataloguing issue that I am ill-equipped to discuss). This designation raises the question: What makes a book (any book) a classic? For me it means a book that is timeless; something you can read years and years after it was written without the book losing its vibrancy. A classic also needs to have memorable writing and characters. It needs to speak to the reader. I...