Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli Review

Title: Love, Stargirl
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Pages: 274 ps (Hardcover)
Publisher: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
Rating: * * * / 5

I haven't read anything by Jerry Spinelli before (I tried to read Eggs and Stargirl but got bored as they were boys, thus I couldn't really relate to them), but I'm pretty sure this is his only book where the main character is a girl.
A description in one word of this book I would have to say is: adorkable. It has really random, quirky characters that have some depth, and the book is written entirely in diary entries that are part of "The World's Longest Letter" to Stargirl's boyfriend, Leo, who lives back in Arizona (she moved and is now in Pennsylvania).
There's a book before this, called Stargirl, but it's not about Stargirl. It's about the boy that the letter is written to.
You don't have to read Stargirl to understand this (I only read 10 pages and those I just skimmed), but you need a little background. Okay, so Stargirl is actually a girl named Susan. She named herself. When she moves to Mica High, where Leo goes to school, everyone is captivated by her. She's so different, so unique! And Leo falls in love with her, and she falls in love with him.
But then, all the students at Mica turn on her- they don't want someone different. Leo has to choose between the one he loves, and everyone else. Guess who he chooses? Well, Stargirl wouldn't be so sad if he had chose her.
But then she meets her neighbors: Charlie, who goes day after day, all day, to the grave of his lost wife, Grace, to relive the past; Dootsie Pringle, a lovable 5-year-old who becomes Stargirl's best friend; Alvina, an angry 11 year old with one sparkly nail; and Betty Lou, who is a middle-aged agoraphobic who becomes Stargirl's friend and confidant.
Stargirl does a LOT of seemingly random and pointless things. Like, she puts orange slices out every day, in different places, getting farther away. But she has a really sweet reason for it you have to read to find out. She also does this thing where she buys a lot of plastic spatulas from the dollar store, and sticks one in a circle each Thursday on a field, where she also goes to meditate. This is so she can have a Winter Solstice Festival.
Then, there's Perry Delloplane: the blue-eyed thief who lays his own claim to Stargirl's heart. Who will Stargirl choose?
It was a really sweet book. It took me forever to read, because i have a Big Scary Bookpile of books from two different libraries, where i have reached the maximum allowance on one, and have quite a few on the other (don't think I'll reach the other maximum because there's no limit, it's too big for them to care!).
That's it for today!