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I have a feeling this blog is going to turn into a book review site. Not sure how I feel about that. Nevertheless, here's a heads-up that another review is on its way. (How many blogs are given over to personal opinions about books, movies, and music? Am I prepared to enter that horde?) On my breaks at work, those same precious fifteen-minute interludes that brought me through Despereaux, I am now reading Jerry Spinelli's book for teens: Stargirl. If anyone feels like reading it along with me, I've just finished the part about the basketball game. So far, it's a book I think you should read. Despereaux's better, but this is certainly worth one's while. Here's why:

There are a lot of books out for teenagers that are set within the sphere of a high school. Movies too (think Ten Things I Hate About You, Clueless, and other non-adaptation films). These usually address the interactions between social groups, as if these social groups - though perhaps lamentable - are unavoidably fixed institutions. Stargirl, as far as I can tell from the first 10-13 chapters, is a challenge to question such an assumption. It addresses high schoolers as interesting people, and takes advantage of the intimacy of the campus setting to reveal both the best and the worst in people.

If you're interested, here's further fodder for Stargirl fanaticism - a link to a word search that you can print out and play at your leisure. Test that Stargirl word-association power!:

http://www.unit5.org/oakdaleimc/Tech2003/stargirl.htm
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  1. Anonymous13 January, 2008 19:41

    Mom gave me that book to read. I need to start reading it! Then we can talk about it! Ok, starting tomorrow, I will resist the television and pick up the book. :-)
    Oh, and I found a grey hair. A REAL one. Great. I'm getting old.

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