70 pages • 2 hours read
Jerry SpinelliStargirl
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 22-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 22 Summary
Leo is surprised that Stargirl’s house, her parents, and even her room are normal. Stargirl shows Leo her “happy wagon” (121) which is filled with 17 pebbles. Stargirl keeps 20 pebbles and adds them to the wagon when she is happy and removes them when she is sad. Later, Stargirl and Leo sit outside while Stargirl documents unscripted moments in the life of her five-year old neighbor. She is making a biography to give to the boy’s parents. Leo does not remember or care about the years when he was younger and does not understand Stargirl’s project. He hurts her feelings when he asks if she is trying to be a saint, saying he is amazed she spent the day doing things for other people. Stargirl, thinking Leo is jealous for her attention, kisses him.
Chapter 23 Summary
Leo loves being alone with Stargirl but hates being at school, where the other students actively shun him. Leo thinks that Stargirl is accustomed to being ignored and that the shunning is therefore worse for him. He worries that, as his girlfriend, Stargirl is now a part of his identity. Students say mean things about Stargirl within earshot of Leo. Leo senses the other students’ anger toward Stargirl and partially relates to it. He does not want to have to choose between Stargirl and the other students.
Chapter 24 Summary
Stargirl posts a giant sign at school announcing that “Stargirl Loves Leo” (129). Though thrilled that she loves him, Leo is mortified at the public attention. Leo ignores Stargirl all day, but she finds him after school and asks if he liked the sign. She puts Cinnamon on Leo’s shoulder, but Leo knocks him to the ground. Dumbstruck, Stargirl comforts Cinnamon. Now the rest of the school turns the “full torrent” (131) of their shunning on Leo. While Kevin and a few other friends still speak to Leo, even kids he barely knows make a point to ignore him.
Chapter 25 Summary
Leo hides from Stargirl for days until she corners him for a talk and asks if they are breaking up. Although Leo does not want to break up, he tells Stargirl that something needs to change. He is upset that no one speaks to him. Moreover, he does not understand why she does not care what everybody thinks about her. Leo declares that he is “one of them” (135) who knows exactly what the other students think and how much it matters. Leo angrily tells Stargirl that maybe because she was homeschooled, she is not connected to the rest of the world. He adds that although he likes her, no one else does, and therefore she should try to be more like everyone else.
Chapter 26 Summary
Stargirl transforms into Susan. She no longer brings Cinnamon or her ukulele to school and now wears jeans, sandals, and makeup. Ecstatic at the change, Leo is proud to be associated with Susan. Rather than follow strangers or give anonymous gifts, Leo and Susan go on typical dates to the movies and out for pizza. Susan invents a person named Evelyn Everybody as a guideline for her behavior and appearance. Yet other students still shun her. Susan is unhappy until she has a vision that she will win the state oratorical contest and return to a cheering crowd and newfound popularity at school.
Chapter 27 Summary
Leo accompanies Susan and Mr. McShane, the faculty advisor, to the state competition in Phoenix. Susan is chatty and excited as she imagines the huge crowd at Mica High that will welcome her home and cheer for her after she wins. Dori Dilson refuses to accompany her on the trip because she is angry at Susan for betraying herself (145). Nevertheless, Susan is in high spirits, having apparently realized the importance of popularity. The desert is full of spring color, and Mr. McShane pulls over to let Susan dance playfully. Susan asks about extinct birds. Mr. McShane tells her about the ancient, now extinct Moa. Susan believes she heard a mockingbird, adding that Archie says mockingbirds may imitate the sounds of extinct birds.
Chapter 28 Summary
Leo is surprised that afternoon when Susan gives a completely different speech than the one she practiced for weeks. Told from the point of view of a mockingbird, the speech contains a mishmash of old and new aspects of her personality: the ordinary and the unusual. She claims the speech came to her that morning. Susan is chosen to be one of the final ten speakers that evening. Unlike the other finalists, Susan is seen as “unconventional” (153), giving a conversational speech to the silent auditorium. When she finishes, there is no reaction until suddenly the audience erupts into wild cheering, as powerful as the applause heard at a championship basketball game.
Chapters 22-28 Analysis
Leo’s insecurities prompt Stargirl’s transformation into Susan. Although Leo loves Stargirl’s free spirit, her nonconformity makes him increasingly uncomfortable and angry. Leo identifies with Hillari Kimble’s feeling of being “targeted” (129) by Stargirl and resents that his identity is tied to hers. He blames Stargirl for his feelings of isolation; had she been more normal, Leo concludes, he would not be shunned. While he avoids choosing between “them” and Stargirl (133), he puts the onus of his choice on her and makes it clear where his deeper loyalties lie. He tries to deflect blame from this ultimatum that “something” must change by assuring the reader that he never said he would leave Stargirl if she did not change. His message, however, is clear to Stargirl. Leo manages to avoid personal growth of any kind. Had Leo simply broken up with her and explicitly aligned himself with the group, at least that would have constituted a decision. Instead, he relinquishes responsibility for his own happiness and forces Stargirl to make an uncomfortable and unhealthy decision.
Ironically, thanks to Leo, Stargirl feels that she is “not connected” (137) to the world, even though she demonstrates far more mature, inclusive attitudes and behaviors than Leo. Now, Leo takes on the role of a patronizing and misguided teacher, as he educates Stargirl about the “ways of people” (137) according to his narrow understanding. Whereas Stargirl and Archie try to teach Leo to expand his self-knowledge and understanding, Leo teaches Stargirl to narrow hers by relying on others’ opinions.
Leo parrots the philosophy embodied by Wayne Parr and the cultural norms of Mica High, emphasizing the importance of conformity. He deflects Stargirl’s naïve but piercing questions of “why?” because he has no good answers. Sadly, Stargirl takes Leo’s teachings to heart, internalizing a fear of being a “nobody.” This desire to be included has immediate consequences, as Stargirl alienates her only true friend, Dori.
Stargirl’s name change back to her given, ordinary name of Susan symbolically reflects her change into a conventional teenager. Proud to say the name Susan out loud, Leo does not mind being tied to her mundane identity. Stargirl, however, struggles to be someone else and gain group acceptance. Her use of the fictitious Evelyn Everybody as a model for correct behavior reflects a conscious attempt to learn an unfamiliar role. Like the mockingbird she hears on the way to Phoenix, Stargirl imitates something else. Despite her extensive efforts to fit in, the group continues to shun her. Leo demonstrates a lack of empathy and maturity when he ignores Susan’s sadness, instead focusing on his own happiness that Susan is now “gloriously ordinary” (140). He continues to be embarrassed when her new persona shows cracks in front of the other students.
Susan shows a flash of the old Stargirl when she receives inspiration for her competition speech in the desert. She continues to embrace Archie’s wise teachings that the past is connected to the present, thereby revealing that she retains her connection to the universe. Her speech is pure Stargirl, though her reason for wanting to win the competition is pure Susan: to be popular.
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By Jerry Spinelli
