My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Daring to Be DifferentActual rating 4.5 stars
In a moving and highly engaging tale about the vagaries of adolescent peer pressure, Newbery Medal winner Jerry Spinelli tells the story of Stargirl, a high school student who is startlingly different from everyone else. The need to conform -- and unabashed curiosity about those who don't -- are at the heart of this touching tale, which aptly demonstrates the peaks and pitfalls of popularity.
Well, what can I say. This book is equivalent to a cute cat on the internet. Heart-warming and generally likeable.
It's kind of funny because I kept anticipating outrageous revelations such as Stargirl is an alien, or Leo's imaginary friend, or a doll coming to life or anything like that (paranormal fantasy overdosed for sure). It is funny but in the same time it is sad that I can't imagine the existence of someone like Stargirl. What kind of society we live in today... *sigh*
If you read this book for the romance then well, there's not much in store for you. Leo and Stargirl relationship is oddly healthy (because Stargirl is definitely not the type of girl people would introduce to one's family but hey, she's definitely better than the bitches out there). Leo is not the strong male character I was expecting but I guess the author shaped his character as a representation of what a regular nice person would do. Of course most of us have a conscience to be nice to other people no matter how he or she behaves but not all of us would have the courage to stand up for the outcasts even though you know the majority is wrong anyway.
All in all, I would approve this book as a school textbook in coming years. There're so many valuable lessons coming out of this little gem.
View all my reviews
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Hi! I welcome comments and feedback! But because I suck at HTML code, I don't know how to add reply button to each comment (I tried googled it but I think this template doesn't allow such change), so I will be very lousy at keeping track of the comments but it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate your comments! ^_^