Stargirl

Stargirl is aptly named. Not exactly from a different planet, she appears to be from a distant constellation. Selfless, meditative, and self-assured, she just drops from above, it seems, into Mica High School. John Ritter, as 16-year-old Leo Borlock, passes from fascination at this mysterious sprite, to love, anger, pain, humiliation, and finally back to a kind of love again, but only after it's too late. Ritter's reading pulsates with all the guarded passion and quiet graces of a young man in love for the first time. It is charged with Leo's energy, at other times wracked with his confusion. Always, though, it reverberates with the social upheaval that gentle Stargirl Caraway's free spirit sparks in the poisonously conservative atmosphere of Mica High. Leo never quite recovers after they collide, but both he and the listener are changed. Newbery medalist Spinelli once again reminds us how difficult but wonderful it is to be human. P.E.F. 2002 YALSA Selection (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2001
Ritter, in the sort of dynamic, focused performance that makes him a versatile actor, effortlessly walks the halls of Mica Area High School as 16-year-old Leo Borlock, a boy coming to grips with first love and the pressures of conformity. Junior year takes a most unusual track for Leo, a proud-to-be-ordinary kid, as well as most of the student body, when a new sophomore named Stargirl arrives on the scene. With her odd clothes, pet rat named Cinnamon and penchant for playing the ukulele during lunch, free spirit Stargirl turns the school on its ear. But before Leo really knows it's happening, Stargirl steals his heart, a development that eventually puts him at odds with just about everyone. As his love for Stargirl grows, so does his concern that they are an oddity in the world; he finds himself facing a difficult choice between society and his girlfriend. With a mesmerizing reading rhythm peppered with spirited and heartfelt dialogue, Ritter fully captures the emotional current of Spinelli's text. He relates the humorous details, clique-related dramas and intense heartbreak of high school life with a knowing tone that young listeners will likely embrace. Ages 12-up.