Rating: [rate 5]
Click here to buy Love, Stargirl from Amazon.com

Dear Leo,
I love beginnings. What better way to elaborate than to begin writing a letter to my once (and future?) boyfriend.

Stargirl has moved and left everything behind: Arizona, Mica High, enchanted desert places – and Leo.

He’s all she can think abbout, and her life begins to feel like a parade of unhappy anniversaries. Then Stargirl meets her wonderfully bizarre new neighbors: Dootsie, the curly-headed five-year-old “human bean”; Betty Lou, who hasn’t stepped outside her house for nine years; Charlie, who sits among the tombsones; hot-tempered Alvina with that one glittery nail; and Perry Dellophane, the blue-eyed thief who soon lays his own claim to Stargirl’s heart.

In letters to Leo in a course of a year, Stargirl comes to find hope in new places: mockingbirds, donut angels, moon flowers and the Winter Solstice — that turning-point day when dark tips to light. But what’s life without Leo? Will he — can he — answer that one crucial question she asks every morning to the rising sun? – Book blurb

It was around three years ago when I first bought Stargirl. I’ve been curious about the book ever since I saw it but I only got to buy it after a bad day at the photo lab at school. I loved the book — it was magical and bittersweet and reading it always left me a sad feeling over my heart, wondering if Leo and Stargirl will every meet again.

In this sequel, Mr. Spinelli brings us into Stargirl’s world, making us see through her eyes, and making us realize that amidst all the “magic” she held in the previous book, she is still a human being, and more importantly, a girl who fell in love, was “dumped” and is trying to move on with her life without her love.

This book kind of reminds me of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written in the same way, only in a girl’s point of view and with less “serious” topics. Stargirl was introduced as a very unique individual in the first book, and Mr. Spinelli wrote it in a way that we can never know what makes her tick. We just know that she does what she does, and that’s it, like if she was explained, all magic would be lost. I admit that as I read the book, I also looked at Stargirl in wonder, also wondering how she could act that way in an environment that calls for conformity. The ending of the prequel left me wanting answers to who she really is.

Love, Stargirl doesn’t really answer this question, but it takes you into an adventure into Stargirl’s world without Leo. It’s interesting to see that even if she seemed “magical” at first, she is just very ordinary…just brought up very differently. It was interesting to read about her trying her best not to fall for Perry, or for launching into her different adventures with Dootsie or being a sister to Alvina…it’s amazing to see that even if she seemed so sure of herself in the prequel, she’s can be as awkward and unsure as the next person. She reminds me of Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables, only a bit less “head in the clouds”. :)

Stargirl is to someone to be loved. She’s a sweet person who “sheds light when she cries”. :) She’s one of the characters that will stay with you for a long time after reading the book.

I definitely recommend that one must read the prequel first before reading this one, just so you really get to feel and know Stargirl. :)