Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl Inspires Societies

By Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 10/11/2007

In his 2000 Stargirl, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli introduced a creative, free-spirited teenager whose acts of kindness affected many. Readers clearly connected with Stargirl: the Knopf novel has sold more than a million copies in North America alone and has been published in 27 countries. This character, in fact, has so deeply touched some teens that they’ve been inspired to start Stargirl Societies, school groups with the goal of emulating Stargirl’s values.

The inaugural Stargirl Society formed in 2004 in Kent, Ohio, after Kathy Frazier, then the gifted education specialist for the city’s schools, came across the book and passed it along to some of her eighth-grade students. “These were highly creative, individualistic students and they loved the novel and the message it gave,” Frazier says. “They told me they wished they had read it in sixth grade, since in middle school there is such peer pressure to conform and it is so easy to lose one’s own self. Stargirl was able to keep her own creative spirit and individualism intact.”

After those eighth graders moved on to high school, Frazier recalls that she and they would exchange “Hey, Stargirl!” greetings when they encountered each other at school, but it wasn’t until the girls became juniors that several of them called her with the idea to start a group for middle-schoolers that would somehow tie into the novel.

Frazier eagerly helped the students organize monthly Friday night meetings. The seven students initiating the venture sent middle-school girls invitations to join the group, which the founders dubbed the Stargirl Society after obtaining permission from Spinelli to use the name. In the spirit of Stargirl’s open-mindedness, the society was inclusive from the start. “Anyone who wanted to come could,” Frazier explains. “We didn’t leave anyone out.”

Stargirl Society founders meet
author Jerry Spinelli (r.), accompanied
by advisor Kathy Frazier (l.)
and Spinelli's wife Eileen (third from r.).

The early meetings consisted of discussions about the novel. “At first I was worried that the girls might get restless and I wondered how we were going to keep the discussions going, but they kept on going, going, going,” Frazier says. “The girls really enjoyed the opportunity to talk about relationships, being yourself and believing in yourself. As the Society grew to 30 or more, we started breaking up into smaller groups, which we call ‘constellations,’ during our meetings.”

A key component of the Kent Stargirl Society is its community service initiative, meant to imitate the character’s penchant for reaching out to others. The members made cards of appreciation for the school’s often-overlooked cafeteria workers and janitors as well as decorations for their workspaces. They also decorated every student locker in the middle school with personalized Valentines. When one member suggested they announce that the cards came from the Stargirl Society, another countered that Stargirl kept her many acts of kindness anonymous, so the girls took what Frazier calls “a vow of secrecy.”

Stargirl Society member
Sarah Jackson conducting a meeting.

The Society has also invited women from various professions who have demonstrated creativity and individuality to speak about their personal and career paths. Perhaps the most celebrated and eagerly welcomed guests they have hosted are Spinelli and his wife Eileen—the author’s inspiration for Stargirl—who drove seven hours from their Pennsylvania home to spend a full day with some 50 girls. “Upon meeting him, I was struck and then settled by Jerry’s down-to-earthness,” comments Sarah Jackson, a senior who was the youngest of the Society’s founders. “He was as eager to listen to us as we were to listen to him.”

Spinelli, whose sequel, Love, Stargirl, was published by Knopf in August, recalls the visit fondly, noting, “I was impressed and heartwarmed at the idea that my little story provoked such a response from those kids. From my point of view, the objective of the Societies is or ought to be not to create clones of Stargirl but to encourage girls to discover, express and celebrate themselves.”

Frazier and the Kent students, who have created a manual on starting a Stargirl Society, are doing their best to encourage others to form their own groups. Earlier this month, Frazier made a presentation about the society at the Ohio Association for Gifted Children conference, and the Kent Stargirl Society has won first place in both the state and international levels in Future Problem Solving Program International competitions. Though it is unknown exactly how many Stargirl Societies have been formed, Jackson says that members “are becoming interconnected with each other, on Facebook for example, and it seems Stargirl Societies are starting to spring up around the country.” Indeed, when Frazier recently attended the International Future Problem Solving Bowl, she gave manuals to girls from Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. (For those interested in starting a Society and receiving a copy of a Start a Stargirl Society Manual, Frazier can be contacted here.)

Spinelli himself says that he has heard from several teachers that they intend to start their own Societies. “I’d love to see this thing become a more widespread movement,” he says. “I personally find the Stargirl Societies so appealing and meaningful that I can imagine them becoming a legacy that I cherish more than the book itself.”