Stargirl

Rotating Chair Q’s

ELA 8B

Chapters 1-5

1. What are your first impressions of Stargirl?
2. How would you feel if a random girl sang happy birthday to you in the lunchroom? Why?
3. Why is there conflict between Leo and his friend Kevin?
4. Would you want to be on the Hotseat? Would you like to host it?
5. Why do you think Leo follows Stargirl?
6. How does joining the cheerleading squad seem to change Stargirl? The other students?

Chapter 6-18 rc

1. Describe Archie. How is he a mentor figure? What is a lesson that Stargirl or Leo learn from him?
2. Is Stargirl an amazing actress, or does she really see the world in this special way? What makes your think that? Do you know anyone like this?
3. Explain what happens in regards to sports. What does winning do to the town? To Stargirl?
4. What is Leo experiencing, now that he is very close with Stargirl?
5. Do you think this book is realistic fiction? What makes you think so?

Chapters 19-21

1. What is shunning? Is it a form of bullying?
2. Do YOU believe in “enchanted places”? If not, why do you think Stargirl does? If so, describe one.
3. Study this language:

“Like so many of Archie’s words, they seemed not to enter through my ears but to settle on my skin, there to burrow like tiny eggs awaiting the rain of my maturity, when they would hatch and I at last would understand.”

What is meant by this? What type of figurative language is used? How does this imagery “fit” the book?

Chapter 19-21 cont’d

4) Archie asks Leo: “Whose affection do you value more, hers or the others?” What do you think? Have you ever had to choose between friends, or a boyfriend/girlfriend and your friends?

5) Look at this description of Stargirl:

“She matched her words so perfectly that the speech was not a speech at all, but one creature’s voice in the wild, as natural as a raven’s caw or a coyote’s howl at midnight.”

What do you think the author is doing by connecting the nature imagery with Stargirl? What does that tell us?

Chapters 22-26

1. What is the significance of Leo asking Stargirl, “Are you running for Saint?”
2. Leo says, “I had never realized how much I needed the attention of others to confirm my own presence.” What does he mean by this? Do you feel the same or differently?
3. “I had linked myself to an unpopular person. That was my crime.” Do you think Leo is exaggerating or can it really be like this? Why would people do this?
4. At the end of chapter 25, Leo said, “Two days later, Stargirl vanished.” What happened? Why does that matter?