Leo Borlock's Transformation In Stargirl By Jerry Spinelli

932 Words4 Pages

In Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, the protagonist, Leo Borlock’s experiences cause him to change throughout the novel. In his first experience, Leo meets Stargirl—or at least everyone keeps talking about her when she arrives at school. She’s quirky and eccentric and has everyone wondering who she is. Leo and his friend Kevin agree at first to put her on “Hot Seat”, a show they run together where they interview students from their school. However, the next day, popular girl Hillari Kimble is telling everyone that Stargirl is a fake, planted to encourage and excite the students. Hillari’s speech has everyone thinking that Stargirl isn’t real, and Kevin tells Leo it would be more beneficial to their show if she was a fake. In the book, it states “‘We could use the show to expose her. Can’t you see it?’… ‘You want her to be a fake, don’t you?’ He grinned ear to ear. ‘Absolutely. Our ratings will go sky-high!’” Leo doesn’t believe him at first, but he finds it hard to deny that Stargirl is anything but. Seeing everything she does, Leo convinces himself …show more content…

In the text, it states “It was in a school notebook that apparently I had not opened for several days. It was a valentine …showing a blushing little boy and a girl with mary jane shoes and a big red heart between them and the words “I LOVE YOU.”) For example, when he and Stargirl are at the mall, she makes up a game. Leo agrees to go along with it. It states “‘I pick somebody on the street, the mall, a store, wherever, and I follow them… I follow her for fifteen minutes, not a minute more…The game is, after fifteen minutes of watching her, I have to guess what kind of card she needs.’”. After playing the game together, Leo realizes that he enjoyed being with Stargirl. “I did have fun. Whether it came from the game or simply from being with her, I don’t