In Which We Discuss Star Girl

...or, the cost of selling out.

Stargirl is a book by Jerry Spinelli. It was published in 2000.

It's written from the point of view of Leo Borlock, a senior at Mica High in Arizona. One day a weird girl starts at his school. She's been home-schooled for years. She dresses oddly. She plays the ukulele and sings to people on their birthdays. Every day, in every lesson, she fastens a lace frill around her desk, and drops a single daisy into a vase. And her name is Stargirl.

She's weird, and strange, and completely unique. And so is the book. That's why I love it. It's so unusual and mysterious, and it's a really beautiful, tragic love story. I really, really love that book, and I think it's mostly because of the main character. There's so much mystery surrounding her that she really does seem like some strange and ancient being, not just a normal girl. That's why she's special. That's why the book's special.

But then, in 2008, Spinelli wrote a sequel. Called Love Stargirl, it was written from Stargirl's point of view. And suddenly, she wasn't at all special. She wasn't magical or mysterious. She was just a normal teenage girl. Quirky, but not at all special.

He ruined it.

There's a Stargirl diary now, with Stargirl quotes at random points. Like something you'd find attached to one of Jacqueline Wilson's novels (I've nothing against Jacqueline Wilson - I love her work - but she's an entirely different kind of writer). He just completely ruined the whole thing that was Stargirl. And the sequel contradicted the beautiful ending of the original.

Stargirl was a wonderful book, all by itself. It didn't need a sequel; it was complete and perfect. But then he had to go and ruin it. Presumably, for the money.

*sniffle*