Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was obsessed with Stargirl in elementary and middle school. Looking back, I think this book was probably my first exposure to a “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” (a phrase I wish could be eradicated along with “Mary Sue,” but alas, it’s the ubiquitous way of expressing the concept in the vernacular). I like how Monika Bartyzel introduces the trope in her article criticizing the use of the term MPDG:

“As long as men have written female characters, entertainment has been packed with girls whose individuality is just a means for some tiresome hero to work out his own ennui.”

Bartyzel’s description of the stock character is my adult criticism of Spinelli’s novel. Nathan Rabin originally coined MPDG to address the widespread occurrence of quirky fictional females who seem to exist solely to teach male protagonists essential life lessons while receiving nothing in return. If that isn’t an apt description of Stargirl and Leo’s relationship, I don’t know what is. However, as Bartyzel reminds us, “Rabin’s oft-quoted definition doesn’t actually describe the girl; it describes the audience’s experience of watching her.” So, if I write off Stargirl as MPDG whose only purpose was Leo’s personal growth, I’m as culpable as the characters who treated her as something “other” and dehumanized her in the story. I prefer to think of Stargirl as I did when I first read about her as a kid—a nonconformist hero and a great fictional-but-human role model.

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𝓟.𝓢. This review was crossposted from Goodreads because it contains actual thoughts rather than a typically facetious single-sentence remark. View all my book ratings and pointless takes on Goodreads or The StoryGraph.