Stargirl

Stargirl is the uber-nonconformist. She seemingly comes down from outer-space to "infect" an utterly conformist Arizona high school. She serenade's students, asks questions in class and (horrors) cheers for the home team and the opponents. At first, the other students are baffled. Then they become enthralled by the freedom that she represents. She sparks a new interest in individual expression and school spirit. However, this all comes apart as the basketball team goes on winning. The school holds her responsible for the playoff loss and eventually shuns here. She attempts to be a "normal" student, but after that fails to help, she returns back to herself. She goes on to win the state speech contest and is well celebrated by the people in Phoenix. However, in her own town, she is pretty much ignored.

Finally at the end of the year, she arrives in a "chauffeur-driven" bicycle to the big dance, enthralls the school with a wild bunny hop, and then disappears to fond memories.

The story is told in first person, from the view of Leo, a high school TV producer who becomes Stargirl's boyfriend. This creates a fairly shallow version of her character. (Stargirl's character comes out as a more authentic, well-rounded character in the sequel, Love, Stargirl, which is told from Stargirl's perspective.) Leo is caught in a quandary. He likes her, but he also likes being popular. He is unable to accept being shunned by classmates in order to stay with Startgirl. He tries to make her "one of them" and seems to enjoy it when she tries, but is upset that it didn't help remove the shunning. He eventually disassociates from her in an attempt to improve his standing.

We see very little of what makes Stargirl tick. She seems to be mostly aloof from feelings. She does what she wants to do. She brings a ukulele to school and freely gives people cards. She pretty much tells Leo that she will be his girlfriend. She has none of the beat-around-the-bush teenage behavior. Even her attempt to be "normal" seems to be of the "this is something to make Leo happy" variety. We only glimpse a bit of her "needs" in the speech contest episode. She seems like a typical teenager flirting with Leo on the drive there. She longs for the praise of her classmates (and seems torn when she doesn't get it.)

The message is a similar one from Crash: be true to yourself, regardless of what others think. The sequel is a stronger book, but Stargirl does a good job of bringing out the internal conflicts in the quest to "be true".