Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
208 pages

      "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli is about how a new girl comes to town. Her name is Stargirl. Stargirl used to be home schooled but is this an excuse for the way she dresses, how she dances around the cafeteria singing happy birthday, how she puts a curtain and a flower in a vase on her desk, and how she carries a pet rat in her school bag? Stargirl has definitely pushed her limits when she becomes a cheerleader and cheers for both teams, this all seems harmless but the school has grown fidgety in her presence anyone who becomes her friend has to be avoided. The school has been given a taste of someone who is different, who doesn't care what other people think of her, this is Stargirl. “She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to a cork board like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew.” (spinelli, 24)
The word I chose from this passage is, elusive. Elusive is an adjective and it means, "eluding clear perception or complete mental grasp; hard to express or define: an elusive concept." (dictionary.com)