#3080. Activity ideas for Stargirl

Reading/Writing, level: Middle
Posted Tue Mar 2 07:57:40 PST 2004 by Holly Jones (jones_h@cneschools.org).
CNE Middle School, Batavia, OH
Materials Required: various
Activity Time: various
Concepts Taught: various

Stargirl

Respond to three (3) of the following prompts with well-developed, fully supported, detail-laden essays. (No, your essays do not have to be standard, five-paragraph academic essays, but you must have a clearly stated thesis, tons of explanatory details, and a conclusion, so that five-paragraph format might be the way to go after all.)
If Leo had known then what he knows now (15 years after his experience with Stargirl), what, if anything, would he do differently? Explain what he has learned and how he has changed. What lessons would age teach him? Can such lessons be taught to teenagers? Why or why not?
Point of view plays an important role in this novel. We never actually see inside Stargirl's thoughts. Everything we know about her is filtered through Leo, the narrator. Why would the author (Jerry Spinelli) do this? What point is he making by allowing us to see Stargirl only as others see her?
Activities
1. Find someone at school you've never spoken to and try to get to know that person. You can talk to them about what they like to read, eat, or watch on television.
2. Walk down the halls at your school and just smile at everybody. Say "hello." See what happens.
3. Stand and look up at the sky or ceiling as if there were something very interesting there. Have one or two of your friends join you. Count how many people stop to look up and see what you're staring at.
To Think About
1. Stargirl gave secret gifts, attended funerals of people she didn't know, rooted for the opposing team at basketball games and did many other things the kids in her high school considered "strange." They were first enchanted by her and then frightened of her. Do you know anyone who is considered "strange" by most other people? Why is that person thought to be strange? How do people treat that person? How do you think they should treat that person?
2. Stargirl changed her name because she felt her name didn't fit her anymore. First she was Pocket Mouse, then Mudpie, then Hullygully. What would you change your name to, if you chose a name that described how you feel about yourself?