When most people think of YA (young adult) books, what typically comes to mind are series from within the past ten years or so: The Hunger Games, Twilight, The Fault In Our 
Stars. But YA books have been around for much longer. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli was first published in 2000, and has been a staple of the YA scene ever since. But only this year did the beloved book get a movie adaptation, which released as an exclusive on Disney+ on March 13.
Stargirl is told from the first-person perspective of Leo, whose small high school in Mica, Arizona is turned upside down by the arrival of a new student: the crazy clothes-wearing, ukelele-playing, pet rat-owning Stargirl. Though the school doesn’t know what to make of her at first, they quickly grow to adore her, but when Stargirl proves too weird, the students turn on her. At its core, Stargirl is about high school life, the struggle of figuring out who you are as a teenager, and how to decide your values when you receive conflicting messages. So, how did the movie hold up?
Capturing high school life
The book is short, but it still manages to portray snippets of what high school is like, especially in a small town where gossip travels fast. The movie does this a little bit, such as keeping the opening scene where Leo arrives on the first day of school to everyone asking, “Have you seen her?” When he asks who, they simply say he’ll know when he sees her. Sure enough, when Leo spots Stargirl at lunch wearing a wild and colorful outfit, he gets it.
Other aspects, like how quickly the students’ collective opinion of Stargirl changes, were also still there, though many details that made the book so insightful are missing. Most of these changes are understandable in translating a book that can have meandering paragraphs to an onscreen experience that needs to be more focused. But the movie struggles a little bit between trying to decide if it’s set in 2020 or 2000. Of course in the book, there’s no social media or smartphones, so the way that gossip (and eventually bullying) spreads is primarily person-to-person. In the movie, the students clearly have the latest iPhones, but there’s never any hint of texting, posts, or really even photos used to share what’s thought about Stargirl.
I understand trying to stick to the original story, but this is one time that I would have preferred the movie to make a choice to differ from the book in execution, though not in spirit. Either set the movie in the early 2000s, or update the experience of high school life that was captured so well in the book so that it also fits in with modern students by having texting and social media influence the story.
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Figuring out who you are
In the book, both Leo and Stargirl are struggling to decide who they want to be. This is nearly a universal experience for teenagers, especially ones in late high school like these two are. I’ll talk more in the next section about Leo, but here I want to focus on Stargirl.
When she first comes to school, Stargirl is unapologetically herself. She sings “Happy Birthday” on everybody’s birthday in the lunchroom, she brings her pet brown rat to school, she brings flowers and a colorful tablecloth to cover her desk to each class. By the middle of the book, though, as everyone’s opinion of her has changed drastically, she asks Leo to help her be more “normal.” After struggling with it for a section of the book, she finally decides it’s not worth it, and goes back to her wild and wacky ways.
The movie only partially captures this struggle. For one thing, it does a poor job of showing what makes Stargirl different. In the book, what really sets her apart is that she truly cares about everyone and wants to make each person’s life a little brighter. She scours the newspaper to find small filler pieces about random happenings about town so she can anonymously give gifts to people. She knows everybody’s birthday, she gives every student a small gift each holiday, she is the one to bring school spirit back to the high school. In the movie, she simply wears quirky clothes and plays the ukelele. It changes her character from someone who is unexpected because they are genuinely nice, to an “I’m not like other girls” sort of character, a common but problematic trope.
Then the stretch of time where she tries to be normal is compressed. It doesn’t show how Stargirl struggles with this, and how she keeps trying to fit into a box anyways. The movie also combines her win at a state speech competition with Stargirl’s decision to go back to her old self, which worked but also left out chunks of the story. Overall, the movie somewhat captures Stargirl’s struggle with deciding who she wants to be, but it’s not as complete or as satisfying as the portrayal in the book.
Deciding what you value
A really interesting thread in the book is how torn Leo is between what other people at school think of him, and what Stargirl thinks of him after they start dating. At first, dating her is great–it’s his first girlfriend, so why wouldn’t it be? And then he realizes that everyone at school is giving Stargirl the cold shoulder, which ultimately extends to him. Leo struggles with what he values more: the opinion of other students, including his best friend Kevin, or his relationship with Stargirl.
This conflict is laid out explicitly in the book. Since it’s first person, we can see Leo’s thoughts as he wrestles with the question. He also goes to Archie, a local man who serves as a mentor to Leo and many other students. Archie helps him realize this is the real question, and only Leo can decide for himself.
In the movie, Leo’s struggle is there, but feels a little different. Whether it’s from the lack of first-person narration or because the movie chose to do portray it in another way, Leo’s concerns with Stargirl being perceived as weird and both of them being shunned because of it feel shallower, and more concentrated on him wanting Stargirl to change. He never really explains why he wants her to change (in the book it’s almost framed as concern for her), and we don’t see him struggling with the decision to ask her to change, break up with her, or stop caring about what his peers think. It makes Leo a little less likable, and not as well-rounded of a character.
Final thoughts: Category Three
Maybe I could call this a 2.5? It’s almost in Category Two for me, but the book has so many delightful little details that the movie just can’t capture. If you’ve had an interest in reading the book but haven’t gotten around to it and are thinking you’ll just watch the movie, I encourage you to read the book. But if you liked the movie and didn’t feel like anything was lacking, I don’t think you’re missing out hugely if you don’t read the book.
Have you read or watched Stargirl? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!
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